The Broken Key (02) - Hunter of the Horde

by Brian S. Pratt

  Seth had mace in hand as he went to the second boat. Four quick, hard blows created a sizeable hole in the bottom rendering it useless. “Grab the oars,” Riyan said as he and Chad jumped into the boat that was now mostly in the water.

  Four oars were lying neatly on the sand nearby. Each of the twins quickly grabbed two and raced to join the others. Durik and his men were close. Kevik hopped aboard the boat then turned to face the approaching men. Casting his goo spell, he immobilized all but Durik and another.

  Chyfe and the twins continued pushing the boat into deeper water. Once it floated free, they climbed aboard just as sparks flew from Kevik’s staff toward the shore. Durik and his man slowed to avoid being burned.

  By this time, Riyan and Chad each had an oar in the water and were rowing furiously away from the island. On the shore, Durik looked like he was about to enter the water and swim after them. “I’ll kill you all!” he shouted.

  “We’re not out of this yet,” Chad said and pointed to the ships. Another boat similar to theirs was getting underway toward them. Eight men rode in her, two were oarsmen while the other six held bows.

  Putting their backs into it, Riyan and Chad rowed as quickly as they could. Seth and Soth were reaching for the other pair of oars to aid them when Chyfe shook his head.

  “There’s a better way.” He explained what he had in mind and they quickly put his plan into action.

  “I think they’re gaining,” Chad said. In fact, one bowman in the other boat had stood up and sent an arrow flying their way. Not very accurate in a moving boat, the arrow went wide and struck the water five feet away.

  “Not for long,” Seth said as he saw the other boat gaining on them. He and Soth had finished putting together Chyfe’s plan and sat on one of the benches with their backs to Kevik. Then they gripped the two four foot oars between which blankets had been secured. Resting the base of the oars between their legs against the bottom of the boat, they raised the makeshift sail into the air.

  “Brace yourselves,” Kevik said. Then a moment later, he cast his wind spell. When the wind struck the makeshift sail, the oars it was attached to were almost ripped out of the twin’s hands. Bracing their feet against the front of the boat, they tightened their grip and held on.

  “It’s working,” Riyan said. It wasn’t working great, but the archer filled boat was no longer gaining on them. A moment later it was clear that between Kevik’s winds spell and the makeshift sail, they were beginning to pull away.

  Riyan and Chad continued adding what they could with their oars, and they soon left the island behind.

  “It’s not going to take them long before they have Durik on board one of the merchantmen and they set sail in pursuit,” Chyfe said.

  But that wasn’t what was on Riyan’s mind right now. His thoughts were on Bart and what had happened to him.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  _______________________

  Bart watched as his friends made the dash for the boats. He however had another agenda. Standing against the side of the building across from the one Durik had climbed out of, he watched as his friends fought for their lives at the beach. Had they been direly pressed he would have helped, but the odds seemed to be in their favor so he left them to their own devices.

  Once Durik had climbed through the window and was on his way to the beach, Bart crossed over to the window Durik had just vacated. The goo which kept the door closed was still in effect. Lord Eythryn stood at the window as he tried to see what was going on down by the boats.

  Bart was halfway there when another eight men appeared from the direction of the forest and raced toward the beach. He had to quicken his step to prevent the men from running him over. Invisible as he was, they wouldn’t have seen him.

  “What’s going on?” Lord Eythryn shouted to the men.

  One of them slowed while the others continued on. “Milord, the men Durik was looking for are trying to steal one of the boats,” the man replied with a slight bow of respect.

  “Help me out of here,” the lord said.

  “Yes milord,” the man replied, then hurried over to help him through the window.

  Bart paused where he was and waited while the man assisted his lord. Glancing toward the beach, he saw the boat with his friends beginning to move away from the shoreline. Riyan and Chad were using the oars with great enthusiasm. Counting the figures on the boat, he was relieved to see they had all made it. Durik made to enter the water but a burst of sparks from Kevik caused him to stop.

  “Get down there and find out what’s going on!” Lord Eythryn ordered once he had made it through the window.

  With a bow and a quick ‘milord’, the man turned and raced toward the beach.

  Lord Eythryn begun to follow his man when he was suddenly struck in the back of the head. Collapsing, the lord’s unconscious body was caught by Bart before it hit the ground. “Sorry about this, milord,” Bart told him. “But we can’t have your ships following my friends.”

  Bart glanced around to make sure he remained unobserved, then slung the lord over his shoulder. Moving in the opposite direction of the beach, he made his way between the buildings. Heading for the edge of the settlement, he and Lord Eythryn were soon out of sight.

  “After them!” Durik yelled at the man. Somehow that stupid sail they had raised with blankets and oars was pulling them away from the boat full of bowmen.

  “Not without my lord’s order,” replied the captain. The captain had come ashore with a dozen men about the same time the one with archers set out in pursuit. And now he wouldn’t budge without his lord’s command.

  “Pyck,” Durik said as he turned toward his faithful companion, “go back and bring Lord Eythryn here to order this idiot to follow them.”

  “Yes sir,” Pyck said. Turning back toward the settlement, he broke into a run. The captain had six of his men go with him.

  “If they get away because of this,” Durik bellowed, “I’ll have your head.” The men on the beach had formed into sides during the exchange between the captain and Durik. Those who followed Durik stood behind him, while those loyal to Lord Eythryn backed the captain. The men loyal to Lord Eythryn outnumbered Durik and his band by two to one. If you counted those still on the ships, it was more like five to one.

  The captain wasn’t too worried about Durik making good his threat.

  In short order, Pyck returned with one of the six men the captain had sent along.

  “He’s not there,” Pyck said.

  “What?” asked the captain and Durik at the same time.

  “He’s not, sir,” Lord Eythryn’s man said to the captain.

  The captain shot Durik a dark look then turned to his men. “Fan out and find him,” he ordered. “Jared,” the captain said to the man who had returned with Pyck. “Take the boat back to the ship and bring everyone ashore but a few to keep guard.”

  “Yes sir!” Jared said. Taking two men with him, he hurried over to the boat the captain had arrived in.

  Turning to Durik, the captain said, “If anything has happened to my lord, you will answer for it.”

  Durik knew when he could bully someone into doing his bidding, and this captain was not such a person. “Pyck,” he said, “you and the others help search for Lord Eythryn.”

  “As you wish,” replied Pyck.

  His prey was getting away and now he had to waste precious time looking for that fool of a lord. If his desire to reach the island hadn’t been so great, he never would have enlisted the man’s aid. Turning back toward the water, he watched the boat with the makeshift sail grow smaller as it sailed further away. The boat carrying the archers had already turned back when it became apparent they weren’t going to be able to catch it.

  Inside, Durik was fuming.

  “They’ve broken off,” Chyfe announced.

  Riyan glanced back and saw the boat with the archers beginning to turn about.

  “Thank goodness,” he said. Then to Chad he asked, “Any sign of
the Water Dancer?” Chad shook his head, “Not yet.”

  Kevik’s wind spell was pushing them along at a pretty good clip. To the twins he asked, “Think you can hold on for awhile longer?”

  “It was just the initial blast that was hard to take,” said Seth. “Now that the pressure is constant, it’s not such a burden.” Soth nodded agreement.

  “Then let’s take it all the way back to Catha,” Riyan suggested.

  “I don’t think that would be wise,” countered Chyfe. When Riyan glanced in his direction he pointed behind them and said, “Once they get underway, they’ll quickly overtake us. We have to get to land as quickly as possible.”

  “There she is!” Chad hollered. They all turned to find sails appearing on the eastern horizon. “Right on time.”

  “Thank goodness,” Riyan said. Using one of the other oars as a rudder, he altered their heading until they were aiming to intercept the ship. Ten minutes later, they saw that it was indeed the Water Dancer.

  Another fifteen minutes and they were alongside the ship. A sailor cast a rope ladder over the side. Riyan was the first to make it up the side of the ship.

  “Didn’t really think to see you again,” the captain said as Riyan climbed over the side and stood on deck.

  Riyan cast him a grin. “Sorry to have disappointed you,” he replied. He then looked toward the island and the barely visible sails of the two merchantmen.

  Once the others were on deck, two sailors went over the side to retrieve the boat.

  “Captain!” one of them hollered. “This isn’t ours.”

  “What?” the captain asked. Then he turned his attention to Riyan and arced an eyebrow questioningly.

  “It’s sort of a long story,” Riyan said turning his attention back to the captain.

  “Sails!” came the cry from a sailor high in the rigging.

  “Where away?” the captain demanded to know. When the sailor pointed toward the island, they turned to look at two ships moving to intercept. “Anything I should know about?” he asked Riyan.

  Riyan didn’t say anything. Instead, he watched the sails growing larger as the ships began heading their way.

  “Sir!” the man in the rigging hollered down to the captain, “they’re Lord Eythryn’s.”

  “Damn!” the captain cursed. Then he turned an angry face to Riyan. “What have you done!” Riyan was about to reply when the captain rushed to the side of the ship. Leaning over, he hollered to the two men who were working to secure guy ropes to the ends of the boat to haul it back up. “Leave it!”

  To the men in the rigging he hollered, “Full sails!”

  “Full sails, aye,” the men replied.

  Even before the men down on the small boat were fully back on board, the wind filled the quickly unfurling sails and the ship began turning toward Catha. Soon, it was skimming along the top of waves at a fast clip.

  The captain kept his attention focused on the two ships of Lord Eythryn. When he saw them alter course to follow, he cursed. “Make all speed for Catha,” he told his first mate.

  “Aye, Captain,” he said.

  “Now,” the captain said as he turned back towards Riyan and the others, “why is it that my ship is being pursued by Lord Eythryn?”

  Riyan glanced to Chad and received a shrug in reply. Returning his gaze to the captain, he said, “An associate of his doesn’t care too much for us. In fact, they would have killed us had they caught us.”

  “I see,” he said. “Go on.”

  Riyan withered under the stern gaze of the captain. “And we might have stolen one of their boats during our escape,” he continued.

  “They had destroyed the one you lent us first,” argued Chad.

  “Lent?” the captain exclaimed. “I lent you nothing and I’ll be keeping your gold.”

  “What will happen if he catches us?” asked Kevik.

  “I don’t know and I don’t want to find out,” replied the captain. “Water Dancer is slightly smaller so we should be able to reach Catha before them. If I can get you off my ship before they catch me, I can claim you were never here.”

  “They aren’t going to buy that,” Seth said. “They know we got on.”

  “Knowing and proving are two different things lad,” the captain said. “Lord Eythryn may be powerful, but he’s not the only one with friends in high places. Without proof, there’s not much he can do.”

  “Sorry to have brought this upon you,” Riyan said.

  The captain stared at him for a second then cracked a grin. “If seeing you to safety will put Lord Eythryn in a foul mood, then it’s worth it,” he said.

  Behind them, the distance between Water Dancer and two ships was no longer shrinking. If anything, the gap was slowly widening as the crew of the Water Dancer sent her flying across the waves.

  Just as the captain was about to turn away, Riyan stopped him by saying, “There’s one more thing.”

  Turning back to him, the captain asked, “What?”

  “We were forced to leave a friend of ours behind when we fled,” he said. “We were wondering if it would be possible to…” As he talked, the captain’s expression darkened until Riyan finally stopped.

  “No,” the captain replied. He knew what it was Riyan had been about to ask. “Once you’re off my ship, I’m through with this.”

  Chad was about to argue but then the withering gaze of the captain turned full onto him and he thought twice about continuing the argument.

  “I won’t risk my ship and crew for your friend,” he said. “Especially since Lord Eythryn is involved. Best thing for you to do is go to another town and try to find another captain who might help.”

  Riyan nodded. “Very well,” he said. As the captain turned away, Riyan returned his gaze to the two ships behind him.

  “Can’t this go any faster?” Durik demanded of Lord Eythryn. Shortly after discovering the lord had disappeared, they had found him lying unconscious in one of the abandoned buildings. He couldn’t recall how he had come to be there. All he knew was that the back of his head sported a goose egg size bump that hurt badly.

  Durik managed to convince him to give chase, and now they were on the trail of a ship that had appeared out of nowhere as if by magic. It was soon recognized as that of a known trader that plied his goods throughout the towns on the shores of the lake.

  “We’re a deeper draft than his ship,” explained the captain whom he had tried to bully on the shore. “We’re at full sails now.” Both ships had their sails extended to the fullest to take advantage of every gust of wind.

  At least his quarry was in sight. Durik stood on the deck with Pyck beside him and watched the ship gradually pull away.

  “We know where she’s going,” Pyck assured him. “The captain said we would arrive at Catha not too long after she docked.”

  And when that happened, the hunt would resume.

  Water Dancer continued widening the distance. When Catha finally was sighted on the horizon, the ships were but a speck on the horizon.

  Riyan and the others remained at the prow as the captain maneuvered the ship toward the docks. Through skillful trimming of sails, he brought Water Dancer in. Dockhands were ready and when the side of the ship brushed gently against the pilings, sailors threw mooring lines to the men on the dock who quickly secured them. Water Dancer continued forward a few feet before the mooring lines grew taut, then came to a complete stop.

  Two sailors extended the gangplank. The captain met Riyan and the others before they left his ship. “Good luck to you all,” he said. “And if anyone should ask, you never heard of the Water Dancer.”

  Behind them, the two ships were drawing closer as they, too, made ready to approach the dock.

  “We appreciate all you’ve done for us,” Riyan said.

  The captain nodded. “Now, get off my ship.”

  Chad was the first one to step upon the gangplank, the others quickly followed. Once off the ship, they made a beeline for the inn where they
kept their horses. “We’re going to need supplies before we leave town,” stated Chad.

  “The inn may have some that we can buy,” Riyan said.

  “But what about Durik?” Chyfe asked. “Isn’t he going to be hunting for us?”

  “We won’t stay that long,” Riyan replied. “Just long enough to get supplied and maybe a quick meal.” As if to accentuate what he was saying, his stomach gave off with a growl. It had been a day or more since any of them had eaten anything of real substance. Hurrying down the street, they headed for the inn.

  “About time,” Durik said as he stood on deck near where the gangplank would be extended. He, Pyck, and the rest of his men gathered together as the mooring lines were cast to the waiting men on the dock.

  “This is where our bargain ends,” Lord Eythryn said as he came up behind Durik. His head sported a new bandage wrapped around the area where he had been struck.

  Durik turned to the lord and said. “I’ll see you later this evening with the merchandise.”

  The pilings gave off with a groan as the mooring lines brought the ship to a stop. Two sailors extended the gangplank.

  “Good luck in finding them,” Lord Eythryn said as Durik stepped upon the gangplank.

  “Just be sure to…” he began, then stopped when he saw a figure on the dock. The figure had a dart in one hand and was staring right at him. Before Durik could say anything, the figure arced his arm back and threw.

  Durik tried to dodge out of the way, but the gangplank didn’t allow him room to maneuver. Pain flared as the dart’s tip penetrated the skin of his arm. “Get him!” Durik yelled to his men. But when they looked to the dock, no one was there.

  Pain. More pain than there should have been began coursing up his arm. “I’ve been poisoned,” he cried out. “Pyck, the scroll!”

  Just as Pyck was reaching into his shirt for the healing scroll, pain erupted from his chest as another dart embedded itself in his chest. Before him, Durik collapsed to the gangplank.

  “What’s going on?” Lord Eythryn demanded as he came to realize something was not right. He gasped when he saw Durik on his knees. Then Durik’s man Pyck suddenly collapsed, hit the side of the gangplank and plummeted to the water below.