Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 (43 page)

Pain erupted and a cry escaped his lips as his leg slid upward and came free of the spike. When his leg came free, blood flowed dangerously fast. Dots danced before his eyes and he feared the pain was going to cause him to pass out. He fought unconsciousness and reached for the vial. He brought it to his lips and quickly drank half of it then sat up as he poured the rest of the elixir into the wound. He didn’t drip it carefully into the wound as he had with Chad. Instead he upended it and dumped the rest of it out onto the wound. Once the last drop fell, he let go of the vial and laid his head back on the ground, panting.

He could feel the potion beginning to dull the pain as it worked to heal. A warm feeling began to radiate from the site of the injury as the muscles and flesh of his leg started to knit back together. He continued to lie there and fought off the onset of unconsciousness until the warmth began to subside.

There at the bottom of the shaft, he laid there for several more minutes as his body calmed down and the last vestiges of pain faded away. Then he moved to the wall of the shaft and sat against it while he inspected his leg. Pulling his trousers’ leg up, he inspected the wound. It had completely healed over and a jagged circle of pink flesh now covered where the spike had exited his leg. He’ll bear a scar there for the rest of his life, but at least he’ll now have the rest of his life.

If I can get out of here
, he thought to himself.

For the first time he really gave the bottom of the shaft a good look. One of the walls held an opening. It looked as if it was a natural fissure that had been artificially widened at some point. Wide enough for a man to pass through, it looked to be his only hope in getting out of here.

His staff was lying on the other side of the pit. He worked his way over to it on his hands and knees, careful to avoid the spikes. When he had it in hand, he used it to help him to his feet. To his surprise, the leg that was injured bore him with strength. Still, he used his staff to support himself anyway as he didn’t wish to strain the newly formed muscles.

On the way back across the spiky bottom of the shaft to retrieve his pack, a glimmer caught his attention. He turned his attention towards it and realized it came from the skeleton. There was a ring upon the man’s right hand. Intrigued, Kevik moved closer for a closer look.

As he came closer, he reached down and pulled the ring from the skeletal finger. It was made of silver and had a red stone set in the top. There were markings inscribed on the inner side of the band but they were in a language he was unfamiliar with.

He thought about using his identification spell on it, but was just too tired. So he put it in his belt pouch and continued on to get his pack. Once he had it on his back again, he headed to the fissure in the side of the shaft.

At the opening he could see a narrow tunnel extending away from the shaft, past the edge of the bobbing sphere’s light. Ducking his head, he entered the opening and began making his way through the narrow tunnel.

It led him for perhaps twenty feet. Along the way, Kevik encountered two sections that bore marks where the tunnel had been widened to allow a man to pass. When he reached the end, it opened out onto a wider passage, actually it was more like a subterranean cave. There were rock formations such as stalactites and stalagmites, and along the side of the cavern to his right, a small flow of water cascaded down. Where it reached the floor of the cavern it formed a pool of water before overflowing into a rivulet that worked its way across the cavern’s floor.

The shadows of the cavern were in constant motion due to the bobbing of his sphere.

He began to agree with Riyan about how annoying this form of illumination was. First opportunity he has, he’s going to learn a normal type of light spell. Now he understood why his master thought it amusing when he chose to learn this particular spell.

The rivulet flowed away from him down the cavern as it meandered from one side to the other. Kevik followed the water as he began working his way through the cavern. He kept his eyes open for any possible way out.

Not long after he began moving through the cavern, he started hearing a noise coming from further ahead. At first he thought what he was hearing came from the rivulet as it flowed through the cavern. But after another minute or so, he began to realize that the noise was coming from something else. He quickened his steps and soon realized the sound was that of an underground river.

The sound continued to grow the further he went. He soon came to where the cavern began tapering off until it became only a narrow passage a couple feet wide. The rivulet which he had been following flowed out of the cavern and through the narrow passage.

He didn’t relish the idea of stepping into the rivulet, he knew the water was bitterly cold from when he quenched his thirst earlier. But what choice had he? So bracing himself, he stepped into the cold water. It only went up to his ankles but the water soon began seeping into his shoes. Not for the first time since joining Riyan and his companions did he wish he wore boots.

The water sent a shiver through him as he squeezed his way to the other side of the opening. The narrowness of it lasted for at least ten feet before ending at a ledge overlooking an underground river. Sitting a scant foot above the flowing river, the ledge was slippery from where spray would at times be thrown by the crashing water. The underground river itself wasn’t flowing all that fast, it was just the many rocks protruding out of the water that made the water a bit frothy.

The ledge was very uneven, slippery, and barely wide enough to enable him to sit upon it cross-legged. He looked out over the flowing water but couldn’t see the far side, the light from his bobbing sphere didn’t extend far enough. Then he turned his attention to the river itself. The thought of entering its dark, bitterly cold water made him shiver.

Kevik sank down on the ledge and did his best to avoid the water flowing from the opening behind him into the river. Despite his best efforts, he started to become soaked.

Sitting there in the dark, he began to give into hopelessness. He knew that to remain on the ledge would be his death, if not now then when his food ran out and he starved. He leaned back against the cavern wall as he perched on his ledge and rested, knowing full well that at some point, he would have to brave the water if he was going to live.

Bart had begun the search of the treasure room at the dragon-sword coat of arms engraved in the wall. It simply seemed like the most logical place for a hidden door to be.

The other walls all had chests lined against them so it was unlikely it would be there.

Now a half hour later, he was still examining the coat of arms. Riyan and Chad haven’t been idle during this time. They’ve been going over the other walls and the floors. They even climbed into the boat and looked in there but failed to find anything.

Bart checked the gems embedded in the coat of arms, as well as every possible nook and cranny it held. He came up with nothing.

“You know,” commented Riyan. “If you feel that coat of arms there on the wall has to be the way, wouldn’t that mean it isn’t?”

“What?” asked Bart.

“Look at it from the point of view of the ones who built this place,” he explained.

Then he smiled, “I guess everything you’ve told us about thieves and thwarting them is rubbing off or something. Anyway, to have it there would be a bit obvious don’t you think?”

Bart thought about it for a second then shrugged, “Maybe. You could be right.”

“Doesn’t look as if you’re going to find anything there anyway,” Chad added.

Again Bart paused and grew still. He began thinking about what Chad and Riyan had said. It actually made a lot of sense. Coming back to the here and now, he glanced at the other two. “Alright.” Moving to the doorway, he passed into the passage then turned around as he began reenacting the lord’s escape. “Here I am, lord of this place, and I am being pursued by enemies seeking my death or capture. What do I do?”

“You get the heck out of here as fast as possible,” replied Chad.

“Exactly!” stated Bart. Moving into the room, he said, “There needs to be something here that can be quickly activated on my way to wherever the secret exit lies.” Getting into the spirit of the reenactment, Riyan jumps from the boat. “If as you say the secret exit is behind the coat of arms, then wouldn’t the trigger have to be before the coat of arms? That way it would begin to open before you arrived, thus enabling you to escape that much quicker?”

“Yes,” Bart said. Moving further into the room, he turned and headed towards the coat of arms. His path took him to within a foot of the boat resting in the middle of the room. “The boat maybe?” he asked.

“But we already looked it over,” said Chad.

“Hmm.” Bart turned his attention to the side of the boat facing him. “If our suppositions are accurate, the trigger would have to be here…” he said then turned to face the wall on the other side of him, “Or there.” Pointing to the wall, he paused as his eyes quickly searched its surface.

“Maybe it’s on the floor?” suggested Riyan.

Bart shook his head. “No. A trigger for a trap maybe, but not a secret exit. The lord couldn’t afford to have his enemies stumbling upon it by accident.” Riyan grinned, “You’ve got a point.”

Moving to the side of the boat, Bart began pushing and pulling its various planks and knotholes. After a thorough search, still nothing.

“That just leaves the wall?” asked Chad.

“Looks that way,” he replied.

The wall in question looked the same as all the others. Stones placed in staggered formation, a torch sconce where a torch could be burnt to light the room, and an all but faded tapestry.

His eyes went to the torch sconce. “No,” he said to himself, shaking his head. “It couldn’t be that easy.”

“What?” asked Riyan.

Bart pointed to the torch sconce. “That is the oldest trick in the book,” he explained.

“A movable torch sconce that will open a secret door.”

“You going to try it?” asked Chad. “This place is pretty old, maybe this is where they came up with that ploy.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen you even try a torch sconce in all the times you’ve hunted for secret doors,” Riyan added. “Not even when we were down in the Crypt.”

“That’s because it’s never used anymore,” he explained.

“So try it,” Riyan suggested. “What do you have to lose?” Shrugging, Bart went to the torch sconce and pulled it down. At first it didn’t move then Riyan told him to try harder. So he gripped it with both hands and jumped up a little and came down hard. To his utter surprise, it moved downward several inches. Then a grinding noise could be heard as the wall bearing the coat of arms began rising into the ceiling.

“I’ll be damned,” he said. “Someone who could afford to build a place like this and all he could come up with was a torch sconce.” Smiling to himself, he turned to the others and shrugged. “Let’s go.”

He grabbed his pack and the lantern before hurrying towards the gradually rising wall. On the other side was a short passage similar to the ones they’ve traveled along since coming down here. It extended forward ten feet before turning to their right.

Around the corner was a flight of steps descending down into darkness.

Bart took the lead again as they went down the steps quickly. Riyan counted and there were a total of forty steps before they ended at a massive underground cavern. The cavern began rather narrow as it moved away from the foot of the stair, but quickly grew wider and taller. Light from the lantern reflected off crystals in the walls which created a dazzling display.

“Nice,” commented Riyan.

Chad took out his belt knife and pried a three inch long piece of crystal from the wall.

Holding it up, he watched as it refracted the lantern’s light. “This is truly unbelievable.”

“I take it you two have never seen crystal before?” asked Bart.

Riyan shook his head and Chad said, “No.”

They worked their way through the cavern, soon the upper reaches were no longer visible as it rose above the range of the lantern’s light. About this time, the cavern began curving toward the right and they came to a stream. Over time the water had formed a channel over four feet deep and five feet across that it now flowed through.

With a running jump, they were able to clear the channel and make it to the other side. The stream exited through the cavern’s right wall not far from where they crossed the channel. The sound of it cascading down like a waterfall came from the other side of the opening it flowed through.

They continued down the cavern another hundred feet and found where the stream entered the cavern through the wall on the left side. Shortly after leaving the stream behind, the cavern began to narrow once again. At the far end where the sides of the cavern finally converged again, was a large pile of boulders. It looked like at some time in the past the side of the cavern might have caved in.

At first worried that the cave-in might have blocked their way, they were soon to realize that on the far side of the boulders, the exit was still accessible. It was clearly manmade, nothing of nature could make such even lines.

“We’re on the right track,” Riyan said.

“Wonder how much further this goes?” asked Chad.

“As far as it does and no further,” replied Bart.

“What?” Chad asked, confused by the answer.

“Nothing,” Bart said with a grin. “Just something my father use to say to me when I would ask a question like that.”

“Oh,” replied Chad.

Once past the exit, they were again in a passage carved out of the rock. A bit narrower than what they were use to up above, but serviceable. It wound through the rock until it turned sharply to the right. Around the corner they found the top of another set of stairs leading down. These were narrow and the steps crudely formed.

Bart again took the lead as they began descending the stairs. These went down for quite a ways, and they were forced to step extra carefully as the steps were quite slippery.