The Broken Key (02) - Hunter of the Horde (32 page)

Glancing back, he saw Kevik standing there and nodded. “They’re on the other side!” Riyan yelled. “We need help to get this closed.”

“Brace yourselves,” replied Kevik. Then he began speaking arcane words as he gestured to the gate.

Brace ourselves? Riyan thought to himself just before he and Seth were smashed against the door of the gate by a fierce gust of wind. The force of the wind was such that it slammed the gate shut, severing the arm stuck to the wall by Kevik’s goo spell. The man’s scream was plainly heard as he and Seth recovered from the blow.

“The bar!” Riyan yelled.

Seth left the door and reached the bar that would lock the door just as Kevik joined him. The bar was a thick wooden beam set in brackets. There were three handles which could be gripped to slide the bar across the face of the door into a bracket on the far side.

Seth took one and Kevik the other. Together they slid the bar across the door and into the bracket. Before the bar could fully be inserted into the bracket, Kevik had to dispel the goo holding the arm on the wall as some of it was coating the bracket and the bar got stuck before it could slide in. When the goo was gone, Riyan added his strength and they slid the bar into the bracket just as a thud was heard from the other side.

“Think it will hold?” Seth asked.

“It should unless they have a battering ram,” replied Riyan. “And I doubt if they brought one of those along.” Turning back to where the battle had raged within the courtyard, he saw Chad coming towards them.

Splattered with the blood of his enemy and bearing a grin on his face, he gestured behind him and said, “They’re all dead.”

“Good job,” he said to his lifelong friend. He scanned the courtyard and saw Chyfe kneeling on the ground next to Tad. “Oh no,” he moaned as he rushed over to them.

When he drew close he asked Chyfe, “Is he alright?” Tad opened his eyes and said, “Not entirely.” The feathered shaft of an arrow was sticking out from his breastbone. Somehow, it must have missed the heart and the arteries. “Are they out there?” he asked.

Riyan nodded. “Yeah. We have the gate locked but we’re trapped.” Tad looked around the courtyard and saw the door leading into the Tower not very far away from where he lay. The sky beyond the walls was quickly growing brighter with the coming of the dawn. For some reason, the approach of dawn didn’t bring him any comfort. His eyes settled back on the Tower and he shuddered.

They gathered around Tad as he assessed what they were to do. The walls of the courtyard weren’t all that high, maybe thirty, forty feet at the most. It wouldn’t take Durik long before he figured a way over them. A walkway ran along the top of the wall, two sets of stairs, one on either side of the door, led up to it.

Tad motioned for Riyan to come closer. “You’re in charge should I pass out,” he said.

“Me?” asked Riyan, surprised at the unexpected promotion.

Tad nodded. “All of you take a bow from the dead over there and get up on the wall,” he told them.

“But Chad and I have never used a bow in our lives,” Riyan stated.

“Neither have I,” added Chyfe.

“They don’t know that,” Tad told them. “If they see bowmen up on the wall, they may hold off trying to get in here. Hopefully that will afford us time to figure a way out.” Bart joined them from where he had been retrieving the darts he’d used during the battle. All ten of the men were dead, he had taken care of the four that were imprisoned by Kevik’s goo spell. They didn’t have the manpower to spare for the watching of prisoners. He didn’t like what he had done, but there was no other choice.

Riyan met him and explained what they planned to do. “Just be careful,” cautioned Bart. “They could have archers too.”

“Already figured that,” Riyan said. Moving with the others, they relieved the dead archers of their bows and quivers of arrows. Riyan took Chyfe with him up the stairs to the right of the gate while Soth, Seth, and Chad took the left. Kevik stayed down below with Tad as did Bart.

When Riyan reached the top of the stairs and stepped upon the platform lining the top of the courtyard’s wall, he looked over the edge to find Durik and a score of men congregated before the gate. A heated discussion was taking place, even from where he stood Riyan could tell that Durik was mad. The man whose arm had been severed by the closing of the gate was being taken from the area before the wall by two other men. One of the two men wasn’t wearing a shirt, it had been secured around the wounded man’s bloody stump.

“You got a problem down there?” Riyan asked. Taking one of the arrows from the quiver, he set it to the bow’s string and held it casually as he looked down to the men below. Chyfe and the rest of those with him on the wall had their bows drawn back, aimed, and were ready to fire.

Durik looked up at the bows covering them. “You going to shoot?” he asked.

“That depends,” replied Riyan. He hadn’t planned to as he didn’t want to advertise he was no good with the bow. “Are you and your men going to get out of here and leave us alone?” His question sparked a hushed debate among those below. Riyan glanced to his comrades on the wall. “Don’t shoot yet,” he whispered to them. Chad nodded but still kept his bow knocked and ready.

When the discussion below stopped, Durik again looked up to Riyan. “You’re only making it worse on yourselves,” he warned.

A second later Chad’s bow twanged as he inadvertently released the arrow. Durik jumped when the arrow struck the ground no more than a couple inches from his foot.

Riyan could hear Seth and Soth congratulating Chad on the good shot.

“Don’t you know where you are boy?” Durik said after picking himself up. His men looked on the brink of fleeing but with a stern glance he held them where they were.

“Looks like I’m in a place where you can’t reach me,” Riyan replied.

Durik grinned at him. “True, I can’t,” he admitted. The tone of his voice indicated there was more to the statement than Riyan understood. “You all come out, return my journal, and tell me what you know about the King’s Horde and you may live to see another day.”

“King’s Horde?” Seth asked and then looked questioningly to Chad.

“He seems to think we know something about it,” Chad explained.

“Do you?” Soth asked.

Before Chad could reply, Riyan hollered down to Durik, “We don’t know anything.

We stumbled across those coins in the mountains during an overnight camping trip.”

“You don’t just stumble across hundreds of coins, boy,” Durik said. “Tell me the truth.”

“The truth is you are trying my patience,” Riyan said. “If you and your men aren’t out of here by the count of ten, we’ll kill you all.” Raising his bow into position, he took aim.

“One…”

Durik glared up at him.

“Two…”

“Come on,” he told his men and they began moving away from the wall.

“What’s going on?” Bart yelled up to them from where he sat next to Tad.

Chyfe turned and replied excitedly, “They’re leaving!” His excitement, however, was short lived. Once Durik and his men had moved out of the effective bow range, they came to a stop.

“No they’re not,” Chad hollered to Bart. “They’ve stopped two hundred feet out.” Bart was about ready to reply when Tad reached out and grabbed his arm. “Tell Riyan to leave two men on the wall to keep an eye on them,” he said. “Have him and the others return here.”

Nodding, Bart relayed the message up to Riyan. “Seth, Soth,” Riyan said, “you two keep an eye on them.”

“Yes sir!” Seth said with a grin.

Riyan rolled his eyes as he and Chyfe began descending the stairs to the bottom. Once on the ground they were joined by Chad and walked as a group over to the others.

“How many are there?” Tad asked, then grimaced. Even that amount of speech elicited pain from where the arrow impaled him.

“A score,” he said, “give or take a few.” Riyan could see the paleness of his face.

“How are you doing?”

Tad waved away the question. “Does anyone here know the history behind this place?” he asked those assembled around him.

They shook their heads. “I think Seth does,” Riyan said.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Tad replied, “he and his brother come from a town just south of here.”

“What about this place?” asked Bart.

Tad tried to sit up but the pain was too great and was forced to lie back down.

“We should remove the arrow,” Chyfe said.

“No,” Tad told him. “You do that and I’ll bleed to death.” His eyes then moved from one to the next. “Unless someone was smart enough to bring a healing potion on this endeavor?”

They shook their head. “One of the dead men may have something,” suggested Bart.

“Chad, why don’t you go check.” Chad nodded and left the group. Once he was on his way over to search the dead, Bart turned his attention back to Tad. “So, what is it about this place that has everyone afraid?”

“It happened a little over a century ago,” Tad said. “People began disappearing from Kemmet and the surrounding villages. Even travelers camped along the side of the road would awaken to find one of their number gone.”

A coughing fit came over him and it took him a moment to compose himself enough to continue. Chad returned at that time empty handed, none of the dead carried any potions on them. Once Tad had calmed down, he pointed to the Tower rising tall a dozen yards away. “So the story goes, they traced the disappearances to a Tower sitting on the inside branching of a river within this very forest.” Riyan nodded. “Sounds like this place,” he observed.

“Never heard of it having a courtyard before though,” Tad stated.

“Maybe that fact wasn’t worth mentioning,” suggested Chyfe.

“Perhaps,” agreed Tad. “Doesn’t really pertain to the story so I’ll continue. When they arrived at Enoch’s Tower, that’s what this place is called by the way, they found only stone. No people, no furniture, nothing.”

“You mean it was completely deserted?” Chad asked.

“That’s what they say,” he replied. “While they were searching the Tower and grounds, one person found something that had belonged to one of the missing people.

Further searching turned up other items, I believe there was even a footprint found, but no people, not even their bones.”

“What happened to them?” queried Riyan.

“The search continued,” he told them. “For weeks they hunted but came up with nothing. Finally the search was called off.” He repositioned himself in an attempt to alleviate the pain throbbing around the shaft of the arrow, but all he did was make his situation worse. Giving up, he lay there a moment to regain his composure before continuing.

“Some believe that the searchers who combed the woods scared off whomever or whatever had taken the people, for the disappearances stopped.” He glanced at each in turn and could see they were hanging on his every word. “From time to time stories have emerged about something in the woods. One hunter claimed that while hunting, he saw a demon walking these woods but no proof was ever found to substantiate his story.”

“What did it look like?” Riyan asked.

“He said it stood roughly the height of a man and walked on two feet,” he explained.

“The hunter only caught a brief glimpse of it, he thinks it may have had a tail. Anyway, when he saw the creature he turned and high tailed it back to town.”

“So,” began Chyfe, “does everyone think this Tower is the demon’s home?” He gave a short chuckle as he waited for Tad’s response.

“That’s the prevalent belief,” he admitted. “The area where the hunter claimed to have seen the demon was not too far away. Also, others have said they heard cries in the night that could only be called bestial and hellish when near this area of the woods.” He paused a moment before adding, “Just keep in mind. Something took those people, maybe this demon the hunter spoke of, or something else.” Just then the morning sun crested the eastern horizon and shone upon the upper reaches of the Tower. The sunlight drew Riyan’s eye and held it for a moment then he gave the Tower a closer look. “This is old,” he said. The stone that it was made of held many small cracks, though the stone still looked to have retained its strength.

“There are no vines on the Tower,” observed Chad.

Riyan looked around and saw what he meant. The outer walls of the courtyard all had vines growing along them, but the Tower was completely clean of them. “That’s odd,” he said.

“It’s almost as if there’s something about the Tower the vines don’t like,” Chyfe said.

“Wonder what’s inside?” mused Riyan. Turning his attention to the closed door, he wondered what might be found within.

“A demon perhaps?” suggested Bart with a grin.

“Or an evil spirit that doesn’t like to be disturbed,” suggested Kevik.

“What about a magic user?” Chad asked Kevik.

Shaking his head, Kevik replied, “I wouldn’t think so. First of all, there’s no indication anyone lives here. Secondly, even the most powerful magic user needs to use the jakes.” Glancing around the courtyard he asked, “Do you see or smell any?”

“No,” said Chad after scanning the courtyard. “Maybe he used a spell to get rid of it?” Kevik actually chuckled at that. “Never heard a magic user wasting magic on something like that. No, I think the Tower is uninhabited.”

“Riyan!” Seth hollered from the wall. “You better get up here.” They turned their attention to Seth and saw him pointing out to where Durik’s men were gathered. “I think they’re up to something.”

“Be right up,” he said. Then turned back to Tad. “You just relax,” he told his instructor.

Tad nodded and laid his head back on the pack he was using for a pillow.

“Chad, you stay with him,” Riyan said to his friend. “The rest of you come with me.” As he began to head for the stairs leading up to the walkway on the wall, he heard Chyfe say to Chad, “He’s really taking to this being in command thing.” He didn’t catch Chad’s reply.

Reaching the stair, he took the steps two at a time until he was on the walkway next to Seth. “What’s going on?” he asked. Turning his attention to where Durik and his men had begun setting up camp, he realized Durik didn’t have any intention of leaving.