Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 (46 page)

“Well, well, well,” he said with a grin.

“What?” asked Riyan as he and the others came to see what he was talking about.

Bart directed their gaze to the bottom of the shaft. “Look there to the right, “he said.

“I think that’s a passage.”

“A passage?” asked Chad. “Isn’t that sort of a dumb place for one?” Bart shook his head. “Actually I think it’s a pretty ingenious place for one,” he countered. “If the lantern hadn’t dropped, we never would have suspected it was there.” Then he turned to Riyan. “And what would we have done then?”

“Left thinking that the key was gone?” he guessed.

“Precisely!” he exclaimed. “I would bet every bit of treasure we have found so far that the key lies somewhere down that passage.”

“But how are we to get down there?” asked Kevik. “It’s pretty far.”

“Simple,” explained Bart. “If you’re up for one more of your goo spells you could use it to adhere the end of the rope up here while we climb down.” He looked to Kevik until he nodded that he could. “Excellent. How long does it last?”

“Up to an hour,” he said, “if I don’t dispel it first.”

“That should give us enough time,” he said. Then he began preparing his rope. “You three may wish to leave your packs up here,” he told them. “Make it easier for you to shinny down the rope.”

They began taking off their packs and setting them by the base of the pedestal. When Kevik had his off, he turned to find Bart ready with the rope. He had placed its end at the edge of the pit directly over the opening of the passage below. The end of the rope rested a foot from the edge. “Just cast it there,” Bart told him as he pointed to the end of the rope.

Kevik nodded and cast his spell. A green globule appeared atop the rope and quickly adhered it to the stone. By the time the goo finished settling, some of it had oozed over the edge of the pit.

Bart tugged the rope hard but the goo wouldn’t release it. “Good enough,” he said.

“I’ll go down first. Once I’m there I’ll holler up and then you follow one at a time.” The others nodded. He then went to the edge of the pit and began lowering himself over the edge. Before he disappeared out of sight, he pointed to where the green goo oozed over the side, “Be careful of that. You get stuck and you may have to stay there until we’re done.” Then he began descending the rope quickly.

The smoke in the shaft was annoying but not overwhelming as the lantern oil burned below. He had to make sure that when he landed at the bottom that he didn’t settle onto a burning patch. Foot by foot he continued his descent. When he neared the bottom, he could feel the heat from the flames.

Glancing down, he saw the opening just below him and the pool of burning oil on the floor before it. He came up with an idea. Moving to the side of the opening, he worked his way down a little further. Then just before he reached the floor, he kicked against the wall with his feet. Angling slightly over towards the opening, he swung outward and then came back into the mouth of the passage. Once past the pool of burning oil, he came to land a good foot from the edge of the flames.

He moved back as far as he could and stuck his head out of the passage. “I’m down,” he hollered back up to the others.

At the top of the shaft, the others looked at each other. “Who’s next?” Chad asked.

When no one else volunteered, Riyan said, “I’ll go. Then you Kevik.” When Kevik nodded, Riyan moved to the edge of the pit and grabbed the rope. Edging ever so gently over the side, he made sure to avoid coming in contact with the green goo. Then he began entering the pit. He had a few heart stopping moments before he reached the passage opening. Once there, Bart grabbed hold of him and helped him in avoiding the flames.

Next came Kevik and then Chad. Once they were all down, Kevik’s bobbing sphere appeared among them. “Stay close,” Bart told him as he took the lead. The passage extended straight away from the pit for over a hundred feet before coming to a room very similar to the one with the pedestal. Only this time there wasn’t a pedestal. Instead there were three doors set in the far wall about three feet apart.

When Riyan saw the doors he asked, “I take it only one door will open to where we want to go?”

“That’s the way I would figure it,” replied Bart. “The other two I’m sure will be trapped in some way.”

“Joy,” groaned Chad.

To Riyan and Chad, Bart said, “You two wait out in the passage.”

“What about me?” asked Kevik.

“I need your light so you’re staying with me,” he explained.

Kevik did not like the sound of that. “Very well,” he replied with little enthusiasm.

With Kevik’s light bouncing about, Bart moved to the doors and began an examination of each. He fervently hoped that they would give him some indication which one would be safe to open. But, after ten minutes of fruitless searching, he came up with nothing.

“Guess we’ll just have to open them and hope for the best,” he said.

“Do you think that’s wise?” asked Kevik.

“Not in the least,” Bart replied. “Which one should we open first?” Kevik looked at him in shock. “You want me to pick?”

“Sure,” Bart said with a grin. “I can’t tell which one so your guess is as good as any.” He glanced over to Riyan and Chad but they were no help. Turning back to Bart he said, “The one on the left?”

“Left it is,” said Bart. He then moved to the left door and grabbed the handle. Turning it ever so slowly, he braced himself to dart backward if things went bad. When nothing happened, he slowly pulled the door open.

As the door opened, they began to hear a grinding noise coming from the other side.

He glanced to the others questioningly then pulled the door all the way open. The door opened onto a wall of stone that was beginning to sink into the ground.

“Could be opening the way to the key,” suggested Riyan.

Bart didn’t think so but kept his opinion to himself. Then all of a sudden, drops of water appeared at the top of the door. Then the drops became drips that steadily increased in volume and speed.

“Oh my god!” Bart yelled as he shut the door quickly. “It’s opening up a conduit for the river to enter.” He then motioned for Riyan and Chad to come forward. “You two hold this door,” he said. “If you don’t, we’ll all drown.” They came and put their shoulders against it as Bart turned to the other two doors. He didn’t think it would be the middle one as it was in close proximity to the water trap. So he tried the door on the right. It was locked. He placed his pack on the ground and quickly removed his picks. That’s when he noticed water beginning to pool on the floor.

He glanced to the door Riyan and Chad were holding and saw a steady stream of water seeping in through the cracks all around the door.

“Can you hold it?” he asked. Riyan nodded but he could see that he and Chad were under great strain in holding the door closed. Returning to the locked door, he quickly removed his two picks and set to work on the lock. In a matter of seconds he had it opened.

He replaced his picks in the rolled leather and put the rolled leather back in his pack.

Then he pulled the door quickly open. On the other side was another long passage extending away.

“Kevik, come with me,” he said. Then to Riyan and Chad he added, “I’ll be back.” Riyan only nodded. With Kevik following along behind, he practically flew down the passage as he knew time was rapidly running out.

The passage went for over a hundred feet before ending abruptly at a sigil inscribed wall. He was quick to recognize it as identical in nature to what they had found at the bottom of The Crypt. The only difference was that in the middle of the sigils were four separate, indented spaces. Each of the indented spaces was curved and sank three inches into the wall with a two inch space separating it from its neighbors. Looking at the spaces together, they appeared to form a circle.

“What is that?” Kevik asked.

Bart turned to looked at him. “It’s what we came here for.” He examined the spaces more closely. Upon the stone within the backs of the spaces were engravings. When he had Kevik come closer so his bobbing sphere could illuminate them better, he discovered that the engravings were of the four coats of arms that they had seen at the bottom of the crypt. The dragon-sword, the two headed falcon, the one with the stripe running from the upper left corner diagonally to the bottom right, and the five pointed crown that they believed belonged to the king himself.

In his mind’s eye, he pictured the key that they had in their possession. He had studied it enough while lying in Riyan’s bed recovering from the poison. It looked as if their part of the key would fit snugly into any one of the spaces. But would just one work? His mind raced over the problem, he knew he didn’t have much time.

“Bart…” Kevik began but Bart waved him quiet. He had to concentrate.

There were four spaces which could only mean there were four segments of the key.

If that supposition was correct, and one of the segments lay beyond this wall, then why have four spaces here in this wall? Obviously you couldn’t use the key segment lying beyond the wall to open the wall; it had to mean something else.

“Bart…” Kevik said again, this time with a little more urgency.

“Not now!” Bart said sternly back at him.

The segments of the key had to be magical in nature, of that he was positive. What if the sigils inscribed upon the wall were set to recognize the various keys? Maybe by placing one in its correct space upon the wall, that would cause a secret door to open? It was worth a shot. Then he remembered that their segment was sitting way back above the shaft where Riyan and the others had left their packs.

Turning around, he started to tell Kevik to follow when his foot splashed in water.

There was over an inch of water on the floor. He glanced up to Kevik who said, “That’s what I was trying to tell you.”

“Come on!” Bart yelled. “We haven’t much time.” Racing down the passage, they splashed through the water until they returned to the room where Riyan and Chad were holding the door against the water.

“Tell me you have it!” Riyan hollered when Bart and Kevik entered the room. Water was flowing steadily through the cracks in the door and it looked like the door was beginning to bow in from the pressure on the other side.

“Almost,” he replied. “I need the key we found.” He and Kevik started to race back down the passage to the shaft when Riyan hollered for him to stop.

“It’s not up there,” Riyan said. “It’s in my belt pouch.” Bart looked and saw that his belt pouch was bulging pretty good. He had thought it was the many coins they had found. “Thank goodness,” he said and moved to get it.

“What’s going on?” asked Chad.

“I’ll tell you when we get out of here,” he replied. Undoing the string holding the pouch closed, he reached in and pulled forth the key. Light from the bobbing sphere reflected off its shiny surface. He saw Kevik’s eyebrows arch when he saw it. “Back we go,” he told him, then they raced back down the passage to the wall.

When he reached the wall, he started to put the key segment into one of the spaces then stopped. What if he put it in the wrong one? Which one was the right one? Then he glanced to the key segment and saw the sigils. Perhaps they would align with those crisscrossing the wall before him?

Testing that theory, he moved it closer to the wall and placed it before each of the spaces to see which would line up with the sigils best. As it turned out, the space with the five pointed crown was a perfect match. Hoping he was understanding this right, he inserted the key into the wall.

As soon as he inserted the key all the way to the back of the space, the sigils surrounding it flared. Then the wall to his right began rising into the ceiling. “Yes!” he yelled. Once the wall was up far enough, he ducked under and passed through to the other side.

It was a bare and nondescript room, with but a single pedestal rising out of the middle of the floor. His eyes lit up as he saw lying there before him on the pedestal, which was an exact duplicate of the one they found in the room above, another segment of the key.

Grinning, he moved forward and picked it up. After what he just did to open this place, it was quite unlikely there would be a trap here.

Once he held the segment in hand, he quickly put it in his pack and left the room. The water covering the floor was several inches deep now and it was time to leave. He went to the four recesses and used his knife to pry out the first segment. Once it was out, the wall began sliding back down to hide the hidden room.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said to Kevik and then broke into a run back to where they had left Riyan and Chad.

Back at the room, they were still holding the door with all their might, but it continued to gradually bow outward. The water flowing from the cracks around the door was no longer a trickle but more like a steady stream.

Bart and Kevik ran back into the room. “Got it!” Bart yelled triumphantly. “Now let’s get out of here.”

Riyan and Chad glanced to each other and simultaneously let go of the door. No sooner had they let it loose than the water on the other side broke through. The water burst through the door with such power, that it knocked the door from its hinges and slammed it into Riyan and Chad.

When the door hit them they went down with a cry as a veritable torrent of water shot through the opening. It was as if the entire river had been diverted to flow through the doorway.

“Riyan!” Bart yelled as he saw them go down. The water pushed him back as it rapidly began filling the room and the passages of this level. “Kevik, help me!” Riyan broke the surface but there was no sign of Chad.

Bart immediately dove under the water and groped with his hands until he found Chad. He then pulled him upwards and Chad gave out with a groan as he broke through to the surface.

Kevik appeared beside him and together they managed to keep Chad above water.

“Are you two okay?” Bart asked.

Riyan nodded but Chad looked like he was in some serious pain.

“We have to make it to the shaft!” Bart yelled over the roar of the water. Already the water level was chest high and rising. “Help Chad.” Riyan came forward and together with Kevik, began helping Chad into and then down the long passage to the shaft that led up to the pedestal room on the next level.