Quest's end bk-3

by Brian S. Pratt

  “He went back inside!” a guard on the ledge yelled.

  Racing for the door, Bart opened it just as guards began emerging into the hallway from the room he had originally entered. The lord and magic user were among them. “Stop where you are!” the lord commanded.

  Bart paid him no heed as he raced down the hallway. Servants who had been attracted by the commotion were milling about until they saw Bart emerge and start racing toward them. With a scream, they fled at his approach.

  He had to get to the hallway where he had smelled the jakes. If there was any way out of this, it was through them. His father had once joked about the time he had used them to escape a particularly tight situation. He said Bart’s mother hadn’t allowed him in the house for a week afterward. Bart hoped these were similar in nature to the ones his father had used.

  Suddenly, a roaring sound came from behind him and he threw himself to the floor. A searing ball of flame flew through the space where his upper torso had been but a second ago. Its passing left his clothes and hair smoking.

  Once it was past, he leaped back to his feet and raced forward. Just ahead lay the hallway down which were the jakes. Two servants emerged from the hallway and he bowled into them, knocking them down.

  He somehow retained his balance and lurched into the converging hallway. The odor of the jakes was barely perceptible, but there. Moving down, he saw the door which hid the jakes from view. Behind him, guards had appeared at the mouth of the hallway and were charging in pursuit.

  Bart ran the short distance to the door of the jakes and threw them open. Two wooden seats sat over an open pit that, if it was built similar to the one his father had used for an escape, would enable him to reach the bowels of the castle. If he hadn’t of been fleeing for his life, he might have enjoyed the pun more. He entered and shut the door behind him. Throwing the simple latch to give him a few more seconds, he threw up the seats and paused.

  The nastiness of what he was about to do finally hit home. But when the guards started pounding on the door, he swallowed his gorge and moved to enter the jakes. They were six feet by two and a half, barely wide enough for him to enter. Descending away into darkness, he couldn’t tell how far below the bottom was.

  Trying to ignore the slime that coated the interior of the stone shaft, at least he hoped it was slime, Bart gripped the side of the jakes and climbed into them. He lowered himself until he was hanging as far down as he could go. Breath came in gasps as the smell was nigh on overpowering.

  There were no handholds in the sides of the shaft, most likely intentional to prevent anyone from gaining entry to the castle in this manner. He tried bracing himself against the sides, but the slime coating was too slick, and he couldn’t get a purchase.

  Bam!

  Above him, the door to the jakes burst open. Having no other recourse, he let go of the upper lip of the shaft and began sliding down. Bracing himself against the sides with his hands and feet, he was able to slow his descent. Funky gunk oozed between his fingers as he slowly descended, all the while, he kept his eyes riveted to what was transpiring at the top of the jakes.

  “My lord!” a guard exclaimed. “He’s not here.”

  “What?” the lord replied.

  It didn’t take long before a light appeared at the top of the jakes and a guard’s face appeared. “He’s in there milord,” said the guard.

  “Allow me, my lord,” the magic user said.

  When Bart saw the magic user peer down the shaft, he knew he was in trouble. As soon as the first arcane word was spoken by the magic user, Bart stopped all attempts at slowing his fall. Letting go of the sides of the shaft, he plummeted into darkness.

  Above him, the words of the magic user followed him down until an intense red light appeared. Bart saw death coming towards him as another fireball shot down the shaft. There was nowhere he could go.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Though it seemed like forever, he fell for only a few more seconds before emerging from the narrow shaft. A moment of freefalling then his feet connected with water. The momentum of his fall had him submerged in the blink of an eye. No sooner had his head gone under, than the fireball exploded upon the surface, an intensely bright blast that lasted for only a second.

  The water was deep, about nine feet with a mild current that pulled at him. Kicking hard from the bottom, he broke the surface and took in a ragged breath. The air was oppressively hot and smelled of charred human waste, the stench was almost overpowering. He must be in an underground waterway that took the outfall from the jakes to the lake.

  In the darkness of the sewer, he began to detect a very faint light coming from downstream, around a bend in the channel. Where there’s light, there may be a way out. Swimming with the current, he headed for it. With any luck, those in the castle above would believe the fireball had killed him. But he had long since learned that one couldn’t trust to such things. A man tended to make his own luck. He needed to get out of there before anyone thought to come see if he was in fact dead.

  As he swam with the current he grew ever more certain the light he was seeing was in fact sunlight. Drawing closer to where the water once again emerged to the outside world, his hopes of a quick escape were soon to be dashed. For just before where the waterway emerged into the open, a wall of thick iron bars set six inches apart blocked the entrance. Bart ceased swimming as soon as he saw them. Instead, he allowed the current to carry him forward as he sought another way out.

  Both sides of the waterway were stone and rose sheer all the way to the ceiling. The ceiling had been left rough when they hewed the tunnel, but it was solid without any openings through which he might escape.

  The current carried him to the bars where he took hold of them and contemplated his situation. He tried moving the bars through brute strength, but he couldn’t budge them. Then he checked beneath the water to see if there was an opening. After several dives beneath the surface, he concluded that there was no way out at this end. Looking back at the dark interior from which the water issued, he realized that he was trapped.

  It had been a couple hours since their return from the wine merchant’s shop. They had spent the time gathered in Riyan’s room going over what they knew, and what they hoped Bart would discover.

  Chyfe had come up with the suggestion that maybe they should hunt for ruins similar to those found on the island near Catha. “Until we gain information that points in a certain direction,” he concluded, “I don’t know what else we can do?”

  “Soth and I could make discreet inquires about town,” offered Seth.

  Riyan nodded. “If anyone was to do it, it would have to be you two,” he said.

  “I haven’t seen anything that could remotely be considered old enough to date from the time of the King,” Kevik stated.

  “Neither have I,” agreed Chad. “Maybe we could ride around the countryside and look?”

  Riyan shook his head. “We are supposed to be agents for a wine merchant,” he argued. “It would hardly be credible for us to do such things.”

  “It was just a thought,” replied Chad.

  “You know…” Kevik began then came to a stop as something tugged at his mind. Focusing inward, he heard Bart’s voice shout, Kevik!

  Bart? he replied. Absentmindedly, he rubbed the ring through which Bart’s thoughts were being sent.

  I’m in serious trouble, Bart told him.

  What happened? asked Kevik.

  Riyan noticed the look that came over Kevik. “Kevik?” he asked. When there was no response, he said to the others, “Bart must be speaking with him.”

  “Trouble do you think?” asked Chyfe.

  Riyan nodded. “Probably. We’ll know soon enough,” he told the others. The room grew quiet as everyone turned toward Kevik.

  I was discovered, Bart explained. I don’t know how, but they knew I was there. He then sent a vision of the magic user and the static discharging purple orb.

  Where are you? asked Kevik.


  Beneath the castle, replied Bart. I’m in an underground waterway that empties into the lake.

  Can you make it back to the inn? Kevik asked.

  I don’t know, he replied. The mouth of the waterway is blocked with iron bars.

  I’m with the others, Kevik told him. Give me a minute to tell them what’s happening.

  Alright, Bart said. But hurry. You guys may be in danger too.

  Kevik’s eyes came back into focus and then he related to the others what Bart had told him.

  “Is he alright?” Riyan asked.

  “I believe so,” Kevik replied.

  Chyfe went to the window and looked out to the street below. When he didn’t see any guards approaching, he turned back to the others and said, “If he was discovered, they may have already connected him to us.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Chad. “How many people have you seen from Byrdlon around here?”

  “Exactly,” stated Chyfe.

  “Can you do anything to get past the iron bars?” Soth asked Kevik.

  Kevik shook his head. “No,” he replied. Then he looked to Riyan. “What should I tell him?”

  “Maybe he could work his way to the other end of the waterway?” suggested Chyfe. When the others looked to him he shrugged and said, “It has to come from somewhere.”

  “I’ll ask,” said Kevik. Focusing on Bart once again, he mentally said, Bart?

  Not now! came the reply. He had a brief vision of water, iron bars, and figures standing on the other side looking in before the connection was broken.

  “I think they found him,” he told the others.

  Bart had moved back into the channel when he first realized people were approaching the barred mouth of the waterway. Making his way against the current wasn’t difficult as it moved along at a leisurely pace. By the time the guards reached the bars, he was twenty feet away and all but his eyes and the top of his head were submerged beneath the surface. His fingers held onto a small crack in the wall to prevent the current from carrying him forward.

  Four guards stood at the bars as they searched the dark interior of the waterway. “Where is he?” one asked.

  A large guard who appeared to be the leader of the group replied, “If he was dead, the current should have brought him here by now.”

  “But wouldn’t have Geffen’s spell obliterated him?” another asked.

  “Perhaps,” the leader stated. “But there would still be bits and pieces.” He stared into the dark tunnel another moment then turned to one of his men. “Tell the captain the body wasn’t at this end,” he said. “He may still be alive.”

  “Yes sir,” the guard replied then began moving away.

  The leader then turned to his other two men. “You two stay here and keep watch.” The two guards nodded and then the leader turned about and left.

  Bart remained against the wall, the cold of the water beginning to seep into his body. He watched as the leader left and the two guards remained by the bars looking in. He was certain they couldn’t penetrate the darkness to where he hid.

  Glancing back down the dark waterway, he realized that if he was to get out of this alive, it would have to be that way. Only problem was moving against the current. The depth of the water prevented him from being able to touch the bottom of the channel while still keeping his head above water. And should he try to swim, the guards at the bars were sure to hear the resulting noise. His only remaining option was to use the cracks in the wall as handholds and pull himself along.

  Crack by crack, and there weren’t many, he began moving further away from the bars and the guards stationed there. Moving as quickly as he could, he gradually put distance between himself and the bars.

  It was dark in the waterway and the light coming in from the end grew fainter the further he went. Once he figured to be far enough away that any splashing noise from swimming was unlikely to be noticed, he let go of the cracks and began swimming with all his might.

  He had never liked swimming, though his father had forced it upon him. ‘The more skills a thief has at his command,’ his father had always said, ‘the better thief he’s going to be.’ More than once the skills Bart had thought of as useless for a thief to know had proven useful, even saved his life.

  As the light from the end of the waterway dimmed, the darkness became ever more absolute. At one point he got to thinking that he may very well be swimming past a way out. Should there be stairs or rungs leading up, he’d never be able to see them. He needed a source of light. Then it hit him. Stupid! he cursed. Moving closer to the wall, he found a crack that he could use to hold him steady against the current. Once he had a secure hold, he used his other hand to remove his waterlogged pack.

  Even before he opened it, he could see a faint blue glow emanating from within. The Cloak was still glowing blue from the spell of the magic user. He pulled it out and then returned the pack to his back.

  The glow coming from the Cloak wasn’t bright, but it did give off just enough light for him to make out the sides of the channel. Smiling to himself, he wrapped the Cloak around his left arm then tied the sleeves together to secure it.

  Holding to the crack, Bart scanned the walls and ceiling as far as the glow extended but failed to find a way out. Pushing away from the wall, he continued swimming upstream. From past experiences with Kevik, he knew that all spells eventually ended. He prayed that he would find a way out before the glow vanished.

  Moving against the current, coupled with the added weight of his waterlogged clothes and pack, his strength started to wane. But resting wasn’t an option. He didn’t know how long it would take for the guard to find his captain and report that Bart was still down there, but it couldn’t be much longer. Once they knew his body hadn’t been found at the bars, the hunt would be on again, if it wasn’t already.

  One stroke at a time, he moved further up the waterway. The channel through which the water flowed moved in a serpentine manner, most likely in order for it to service as many jakes as possible. Bart glanced backward and saw that the channel had already curved sufficiently to block the light coming from outside, only an almost imperceptible brightening of the tunnel down there remained. If the glow from the Cloak disappeared, he would be in almost total darkness.

  The walls continued to be sheer and without a way out. The smell of char came to him after a few more minutes of swimming. That’s when he noticed the walls of the channel were blackened, scoring caused by the fireball’s explosion. Looking up, he could barely see the opening of the jakes through which he fell.

  For a fraction of a second, the thought of trying to climb back out that way crossed his mind. But then he remembered how slick the sides of the jakes were. If he hadn’t been able to halt his fall, what chance had he of climbing up through there?

  Squeak.

  The sound of a rat broke the silence. Bart glanced around and saw a narrow ledge two feet above the water line on the other side. He hadn’t noticed it before as from his point of view and in the dim glow of the Cloak, it appeared to be just part of the wall. But a lone rat was making its way along it. The rat came to a stop, glanced in his direction and squeaked again before continuing on its way.

  The rat had to have entered from somewhere. With renewed hope, Bart crossed the waterway and grabbed hold of the ledge. It was only two inches wide, he had hoped for more. His sudden movement towards the ledge upon which the rat scurried frightened it. Squealing once again, it quickened its pace as it moved away from Bart.

  “No you don’t,” Bart said as he hurried after it.

  Other pairs of glowing eyes were soon apparent as the rat reached an area with more of its kind.

  “I hate being down here,” a voice said.

  Bart froze where he was and looked upstream to a light that was advancing quickly. Rats forgotten, he moved against the wall and lowered himself into the water until only his head broke the surface. He watched the approaching light and was soon to realize the light was coming from a lantern he
ld by one of four guards on a small boat. He removed the glowing Cloak from around his arm and quickly put it in his pack.

  The guard holding the lantern stood at the fore of a small boat. Another stood next to him while the remaining two rowed. “Can you believe anyone escaping through a jakes?” the guard next to the one holding the lantern said with a laugh.

  “I think I’d rather die than do that,” lantern holder replied.

  “We should be getting close,” the other stated.

  With the pack once more across his back, Bart returned his attention to the oncoming boat as he grew still in the water.

  “This is a waste of time,” lantern holder stated. “Never heard of anyone living through one of Geffen’s fireballs.”

  “I know what you mean,” agreed the other. “Once, I saw him take down a charging bull that had gone mad. All that was left were ashes.”

  “Still, the body wasn’t found at the outflow,” lantern holder asserted.

  Bart held his position as the boat went past. When they drew closer, he took a deep breath and submerged his head completely so as not to leave any chance of being seen. The boat passed not four feet from where he was hiding. Through the water, he watched as the light came abreast of him then continued past. Once it had moved sufficiently downstream, he brought his head slowly back out of the water.

  “Told you so,” the guard was saying.

  The boat came to a stop where the fireball had detonated. They were taking a look at the charred walls of the waterway. “No way he lived through that,” one of the rowers commented.

  “We better still check all the way to the end,” lantern holder told the others. “With any luck we’ll find something to take back and show the captain.”

  Bart reached up to the ledge once again to steady himself. His fingers had begun to grow stiff and sore from where he had been holding on to a very narrow crack in the wall below the waterline to prevent being carried away.

  Squeak!

  His fingers had encountered a furry body that squealed and scurried down the ledge. Glancing back to the boat, he saw the guards hadn’t paid any attention to the noise of the rodent, and had continued on their way. Bart resumed his journey to find a way out.