Quest's End: The Broken Key #3 (38 page)

He was not alone! With strength renewed, he put more effort into his struggle for the shore. Though he was kicking and using his arms with great determination, it didn’t seem like he was getting any closer.

Then all of a sudden, his legs struck a submerged rock. Panic seized him at the unexpected contact, but it was short lived. He was quick to realize that the submerged rock rested on the bed of the river and that the depth of the water was no longer over his head. Splashing was heard as Bart and Riyan raced through the water to him.

“Thank the gods you’re alive,” Riyan said as he reached him. Taking hold of his arm, he helped the magic user to his feet.

“Glad you thought to get rid of the goo,” commented Bart. “We would surely have drowned, attached to the shattered remains of the boat as we were.”

Kevik only nodded as he leaned heavily on Riyan’s shoulder. Walking with him toward the shoreline, he glanced around. “Where are the others?” he asked.

“We don’t know,” replied Riyan. Then he noticed the anguished look on Kevik’s face. “But don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll turn up.”

“Hmm?” asked Kevik as he turned to look at Riyan. “Oh, it’s not that. I lost my staff.”

Upon hearing that, Bart began scanning the river and the debris washed up on its shore. There was no sign of Kevik’s staff.

“First my master’s,” moaned Kevik. “Now this. Not much of a magic user am I?”

“Hey!” exclaimed Riyan. “Stop that right now! I will not hear such things from one who has saved our lives time and time again. If not for your magic, we never would have walked out of Algoth alive.” When Kevik failed to meet his eyes, he placed his hand under his chin turned his face toward him. With a stare saying he’ll brook no argument, Riyan said, “You are a great magic user.”

Bart clapped him on the back. “That you are,” he agreed.

Tears almost began welling up in his eyes at the words his friends were saying. Unable to speak, he nodded in acknowledgement.

“Now,” Bart said, “let’s find the others.” With that, the three friends began heading downriver.

Not far from where they rescued Kevik, they found Chyfe. His body was hung up amidst a pile of driftwood and he looked for all the world like he was dead. Bart raced forward calling his name but Chyfe gave no response. Thinking the worse, he was surprised to find him still alive. His forehead sported a large knot from where he must have struck a rock on his pell-mell journey down the river.

“Riyan!” Bart yelled as he began pulling him from the driftwood, “I need your help.”

Leaving a still shaky Kevik behind, Riyan rushed to help.

“He’s still alive,” Bart said as he joined him. He gently turned Chyfe’s head toward Riyan. When Riyan saw the knot, he nodded. They soon had him free and brought back to where Kevik was sitting on the shore.

“Do you still have the healing gem?” asked Bart.

Kevik checked his pouch and nodded when he found it.

“Good,” replied Bart. “Stay here with him and fix him up. Riyan and I will continue to hunt for the others.”

Nodding, Kevik placed the gem on Chyfe’s forehead. The gem’s light shone forth and the healing began.

“Two down, three to go,” commented Riyan.

“We’ll find them,” Bart assured him. Silently he added that he hoped they’d find them alive. He didn’t want to add to whatever fears Riyan already held.

“Chad!” Riyan hollered.

“Seth, Soth!” Bart yelled as they raced down the shoreline.

The river continued its journey down the canyon, steadily growing calmer and quieter. Further ahead, they saw where the canyon took an abrupt turn to the right and passed from sight.

“Chad! Where are you?” Riyan’s voice cried out as he sought his friend. Looking not only on this side of the river but the other, he grew more worried as time progressed.

“Riyan!”

Riyan came to a sudden stop when he heard Chad’s voice. He scanned the area but couldn’t find him.

Bart gripped his shoulder with one hand as he pointed across the river with the other. “There he is.”

Following Bart’s direction, Riyan looked toward a sandbar on the other side of the river. He saw Chad waving his arms frantically. Standing as he was before a pile of driftwood, he was hard to make out.

“Are you okay?” Riyan shouted across the water.

“Yes,” he replied. “Though I think my ankle is twisted.”

“Stay there,” Riyan hollered. “We’ll get you.” He saw Chad wave in acknowledgment.

“How do you propose we do that?” asked Bart.

Riyan glanced around at all the driftwood on the beach. “Make a raft and paddle our way over,” he said.

“Think you can do that?” Bart asked.

Nodding, Riyan replied, “May take a bit, but yeah.” He and Chad used to construct rafts and float out upon the lakes near Quillim during the summer. What he had to work with here wasn’t much different than the materials they used back then.

“Alright,” he said. “You work on getting to him and I’ll try to find the twins.”

“Good luck,” Riyan said.

“You too,” replied Bart. Riyan was beginning to gather pieces of driftwood as he headed toward the bend in the river. There, the wall of the canyon jutted out to within a few yards of the water.

Calling the names of the twins, he ran along the shore. No answer was forthcoming. Upon reaching where the river began to pass around the bend, he was about to shout again when he heard voices coming from around the other side of the bend. Relief washed over him briefly before he realized the voices were not those of Seth and Soth.

Immediately, he slowed and proceeded with much greater caution. He paused just a moment as he removed the rolled leather containing his darts from his pack and placed them inside his shirt. Once they were in their familiar position, he again started toward the bend.

“…do with them?” a voice asked.

Bart slowed to a crawl as he reached the canyon wall.

“Send both of them up to the top,” another said.

Both of them? Bart didn’t like the sound of that.

Other voices began speaking as well, all of which Bart was unable to sufficiently make out. From the sound of it, the twins had been caught. But by whom? Bart wasn’t about to take any chances. He pressed his back against the side of the canyon and removed the rolled leather containing his darts.

“…back to camp…”

“You heard the…”

Snippets of conversation came from around the bend, then they began to grow quieter. It was almost as if they were moving away.

Bart quickly doctored his six remaining darts. One he kept in his right hand, three in his left. The other two were nestled loosely in the middle of the rolled leather once he had returned it to his shirt. He was about to start moving around the bend when the unmistakable sound of footsteps came from the other side. It sounded like two individuals.

Bart pressed himself against the wall again and waited.

“Can’t believe anyone would be dumb enough to ride the Wrath,” one voice stated.

“There’re always those who think they can’t die,” another said.

Bart listened as the duo made their way ever closer to where he stood. “Think they’re from Tryn?” the first one asked.

“Maybe,” replied the second. “They’re not wearing Orack’s colors though.”

If Bart had any doubts the twins were in these men’s hands, that settled it. Standing with dart in hand, Bart watched as their shadows appeared. Then when the first of the two men appeared from around the bend, Bart stepped away from the wall.

The two men stopped in surprise just as one was hit with Bart’s dart square in the chest. Before the second had a chance to react, he too was struck. The poison on the darts, entering their body so close to their hearts as it did, quickly stopped its beating. Without a word, both men staggered then fell to the ground, dead.

Bart had another dart in hand as he hurried toward them. His eyes scanned the point from which they appeared to see if any more were on their way, but found the two men to be alone. Upon reaching their side, he retrieved his two darts and quickly redoctored them.

The two men weren’t soldiers. Rather, they wore civilian clothes and were very dirty. When Bart checked their pockets, he discovered that each of them carried a number of small candles. Curious. Once his darts were again ready for battle, he left the two men behind and continued to slowly make his way around the bend.

He didn’t have far to go before the canyon opened up before him. He saw a group of eight men walking away from him on the beach. Six were armed, and in the middle walked Seth and Soth. They were heading to a camp of sorts set against the wall of the canyon. In and around the tents of the camp were another half score men.

Motion on the wall of the canyon caught his eye. A man was making his way down a series of steps that had been crudely cut into the canyon’s wall. Another below the first had a large box or crate strapped to his back as he made his way up. The steps progressed from the top all the way down where they came out near the rear of the tents.

But that was not the most interesting feature of this area that drew Bart’s attention. Not far from the camp and a hundred feet above the canyon floor sat a dark opening in the side of the canyon. Near it, stacked in a haphazard manner, were crates similar to the one the man on the steps carried. More of the crates were stacked near the base of the steps leading to the top of the cliff.

Unable to give the area more than a passing glance, his gaze was soon back on the group with the twins. He watched as they brought Seth and Soth to one of the tents. There they directed them to enter. Once they were in, the tent flap was closed and two men were posted as sentries outside.

Bart had seen enough. Moving back to the two dead men, he dragged their bodies over to a pile of driftwood and hid them as best he could. Then he hurried back upriver to Riyan and the others.

He found Riyan some distance further upriver than where he had left him. He was beginning to push his makeshift raft into the water to cross over to Chad. The conglomeration of intertwined branches and narrow logs didn’t look like it would work. But when he pushed it out onto the surface of the water, it floated and remained together.

Hearing Bart’s rapid approach, Riyan stopped and glanced in his direction. He knew something was wrong as the twins weren’t with him. Keeping a hold on his raft to prevent the river from taking it, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“We’ve got trouble,” Bart said. He then gave Riyan the gist of the situation. When he finished, he turned his attention downstream to where Chad sat on the other side of the river. From where Riyan had chosen to enter the water, the current should carry him downriver just fast enough for him to land close to Chad’s position. A hundred yards further downriver was the bend around which lies the camp where Seth and Soth were being held.

“On your return,” he began, “are you going to be able to get back to this side before reaching the bend in the river?”

Riyan calculated the distance and the speed of the current. “I think so,” he replied.

“You better,” asserted Bart. Turning his attention back to his friend, he added, “I don’t want to have to rescue you and Chad as well as Seth and Soth.”

“You won’t,” Riyan assured his friend.

“I’m going to get Kevik and Chyfe,” Bart said. “We’ll meet you by the bend. Then we’ll see about how we can get them back.”

Riyan nodded and began pushing the raft further out onto the river. “I’ll be right back,” he said then kicked off. When he had been constructing his raft, he had discovered one of the oars they had used on their trip down the river. Using it once again, he paddled his makeshift raft across to the other side.

Once he was on his way, Bart headed upriver at a run to where they had left Kevik and Chad. Smoke was rising to the sky and he could see them sitting next to a small fire. Kevik must have built it to dry their wet, cold clothes. As he ran toward them, Bart hoped the smoke would not be noticed by those around the bend.

Kevik was the first to notice his approach and grinned. But the grin quickly faded when he realized Bart was alone and coming fast. When he drew near, Kevik came to his feet. “Where are the others?” he asked.

As Bart started to answer, he began kicking sand and dirt on the fire until it was out. “Everyone’s alive,” he replied. Then just as Kevik was about to start complaining about his ruining their fire, he filled them in on what was going on.

“Are they okay?” Chyfe asked once Bart finished.

“Last I saw they were,” he replied. “How’s your head?”

Chyfe brought his hand up and touched the spot where the lump had been. “All that’s left is a dull ache,” he answered. “Kevik’s gem is miraculous.”

“Good. Grab your stuff,” Bart told them. “We need to return before Riyan and Chad make it back across the river.”

Kevik and Chyfe grabbed their packs and the three of them were soon headed back downriver.

Bart scanned the river ahead for Riyan and his raft. When he found it, he saw Riyan and Chad were both upon it and heading back.

Chyfe saw them too. “Are they going to land before the bend in the river?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Bart replied. “It’s going to be close.” Increasing his pace, Bart was soon flying down the beach as he raced toward the bend. If they didn’t make it, they would need his help when those around the bend took notice of them. So far though, it didn’t look as if those at the camp had. The area at the bend was quiet.

On the raft, Riyan was paddling for all he was worth. Chad had his arms over the edge of the raft and was using them to increase their forward momentum.

Riyan had his eyes on the bend, and the area around to the other side. The current had brought them to a position where the tents began coming into view. There was movement in and around the tents but he paid little heed to it. His concentration mainly lay in propelling their raft toward shore as fast as possible.

Movement upriver caught his attention, Bart was running for all he was worth down the beach toward them. Behind him came Chyfe, with Kevik rapidly falling behind though he tried to keep up.