The Broken Key (02) - Hunter of the Horde (61 page)

“Good luck to us all,” he said. Pulling his hood forward, he disappeared then began heading toward the first sentry’s position. The forest seemed unnaturally quiet as he worked his way through the forest, though it was probably just his imagination.

When he neared the first sentry’s position, he saw where the man had moved into the lee of a tree. The man was staring back to the settlement when all of a sudden, he turned his head and glanced directly at Bart. The sentry stared intently in his direction, he must have heard the crunching of snow under Bart’s feet as he moved closer. Moving more slowly, Bart continued toward him despite the fact the sentry was looking his way. Then, when Bart was only ten feet away, the sentry’s eyes suddenly widened as he saw Bart’s footprints appearing in the snow.

Bart took his knife and threw it at the sentry as he broke into a run. The sentry, already made nervous by the wild tales Lord Eythryn’s men had regaled him and his comrades with, completely lost it when he saw Bart’s knife materialize out of nowhere.

His fear paralyzed him long enough for the knife to strike him in the chest. Then Bart appeared when the hood flew off his head.

Diving for the man, he tackled him to the ground. Getting an arm around the man’s throat, Bart silenced him quickly. Once the man’s struggles ceased, he pulled the knife from the dead man’s chest and cleaned it off on the man’s jacket. He looked over toward the other sentry’s hiding place. It didn’t appear as if the man had heard the attack.

Replacing his cloak’s hood, Bart left the dead sentry behind and headed for the second.

“It’s time,” Riyan said. The others nodded and with a quick look to make sure they were still alone in the forest, they broke into pairs and headed out. Riyan and Chad followed the path Bart had made while Chyfe and Kevik angled more to the right and the twins to the left.

Riyan walked purposefully toward the settlement. When two of Durik’s men appeared through the trees ahead of them, he continued on. “Be ready,” he said to Chad.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Chad nod.

The two men waved to them and Chad waved back. When they altered course and headed toward them, Riyan laid his hand on the pommel of his sword. “Stay cool,” Chad advised.

When the two men came to them, one of them asked, “Did you find them?”

“No,” Riyan replied as he tried to hide the nervousness inside. “They’re not on the eastern shore.”

The man’s partner was giving them a curious look, one that made Chad most uncomfortable. “Going to report to Durik then see about getting a bite to eat,” Chad explained.

The first man laughed. “Good luck,” he replied. “He’s going to have us out searching until dusk.”

Behind the two men, Riyan saw Seth and Soth coming up rapidly. “Can’t wait until we find them and get out of here,” Riyan said.

One of the twins must have made a noise, for the man’s partner glanced over his shoulder. “It’s them!” he cried out.

Riyan and Chad drew their swords as did the two men. Chad danced backwards from one man’s thrust while Riyan struck at the other. Catching him in the side, Riyan had the satisfaction of seeing redness begin to spread as he withdrew his sword. The man whom he struck launched an attack as his partner turned to face Seth and Soth.

The twins arrived and began battling the man’s partner. Throughout the forest, the striking of metal on metal rang out as the battle raged. Seth successfully blocked the man’s downward hack which opened his defenses. Taking advantage of the opening, Soth struck fast and sank four inches of metal into the man’s chest.

He drew out his sword and the man toppled to the side. Then Seth moved forward quickly and removed the head from the man Riyan and Chad were engaged with. “Come on!” urged Riyan as voices were heard approaching from two separate areas of the forest.

A glance deeper into the woods showed a pair of searchers coming fast. Then to their right, two more men appeared.

“To the boats!” Seth cried out as he broke into a run. Riyan, Chad, and Soth followed in a flash. The searchers who had appeared saw them running toward the settlement.

“They’re heading for the boats!” one of them yelled to those at the settlement.

Racing through the trees, Riyan sought to locate Kevik and Chyfe but were unable to find them. Behind them the shouts of their pursuers intensified as more searchers joined in the chase.

Then all of a sudden they were out of the trees and into the settlement. Riyan had his sword in hand as he ran, for according to Bart, aside from Durik and Lord Eythryn there were still six men by the boats. From up ahead, the clash of swords and the sizzle of sparks announced the presence of Chyfe and Kevik.

They rounded the corner of an abandoned building, and the house they had stayed in the previous night appeared. The front door was covered in green goo and Riyan could see Durik climbing out through a window. Way to go Kevik! Though it didn’t stop him completely, keeping the door stuck with the goo did slow him down.

Racing past the house from which Durik was working to get out of, they rounded another of the old houses and the shoreline appeared before them. Chyfe and Kevik were already there and had engaged the six men. Only two of the men were fighting Chyfe as the other four were encased in goo and out of action. Chyfe held off the two men while Kevik remained behind him. A flash of red and Kevik’s energy missiles struck one of the two men. Knocked backwards, the man went down. Though still alive, he wasn’t getting up very fast.

“Kevik!” Riyan hollered as he and the others raced for the boats.

The remaining man battling Chyfe saw them coming and didn’t like the odds.

Breaking off the attack, he fled along the shoreline. Chyfe made to follow when Seth shouted, “Get the boat in the water!”

Chyfe came to a stop and glanced their way. When he saw Durik and half a dozen others coming fast, he sheathed his sword and moved to one of the boats. Kevik had seen Durik coming as well and moved to help.

“Where’s Bart?” Kevik hollered. The two boats were resting upside down, so he and Chyfe flipped one right side up before they began pushing it into the water.

“Don’t know,” Chyfe replied. “Push!” Together they began moving the boat further toward the water. They managed to get the prow into the water just as Riyan and the others reached the shoreline.

Seth had mace in hand as he went to the second boat. Four quick, hard blows created a sizeable hole in the bottom rendering it useless. “Grab the oars,” Riyan said as he and Chad jumped into the boat that was now mostly in the water.

Four oars were lying neatly on the sand nearby. Each of the twins quickly grabbed two and raced to join the others. Durik and his men were close. Kevik hopped aboard the boat then turned to face the approaching men. Casting his goo spell, he immobilized all but Durik and another.

Chyfe and the twins continued pushing the boat into deeper water. Once it floated free, they climbed aboard just as sparks flew from Kevik’s staff toward the shore. Durik and his man slowed to avoid being burned.

By this time, Riyan and Chad each had an oar in the water and were rowing furiously away from the island. On the shore, Durik looked like he was about to enter the water and swim after them. “I’ll kill you all!” he shouted.

“We’re not out of this yet,” Chad said and pointed to the ships. Another boat similar to theirs was getting underway toward them. Eight men rode in her, two were oarsmen while the other six held bows.

Putting their backs into it, Riyan and Chad rowed as quickly as they could. Seth and Soth were reaching for the other pair of oars to aid them when Chyfe shook his head.

“There’s a better way.” He explained what he had in mind and they quickly put his plan into action.

“I think they’re gaining,” Chad said. In fact, one bowman in the other boat had stood up and sent an arrow flying their way. Not very accurate in a moving boat, the arrow went wide and struck the water five feet away.

“Not for long,” Seth said as he saw the other boat gaining on them. He and Soth had finished putting together Chyfe’s plan and sat on one of the benches with their backs to Kevik. Then they gripped the two four foot oars between which blankets had been secured. Resting the base of the oars between their legs against the bottom of the boat, they raised the makeshift sail into the air.

“Brace yourselves,” Kevik said. Then a moment later, he cast his wind spell. When the wind struck the makeshift sail, the oars it was attached to were almost ripped out of the twin’s hands. Bracing their feet against the front of the boat, they tightened their grip and held on.

“It’s working,” Riyan said. It wasn’t working great, but the archer filled boat was no longer gaining on them. A moment later it was clear that between Kevik’s winds spell and the makeshift sail, they were beginning to pull away.

Riyan and Chad continued adding what they could with their oars, and they soon left the island behind.

“It’s not going to take them long before they have Durik on board one of the merchantmen and they set sail in pursuit,” Chyfe said.

But that wasn’t what was on Riyan’s mind right now. His thoughts were on Bart and what had happened to him.

Bart watched as his friends made the dash for the boats. He however had another agenda. Standing against the side of the building across from the one Durik had climbed out of, he watched as his friends fought for their lives at the beach. Had they been direly pressed he would have helped, but the odds seemed to be in their favor so he left them to their own devices.

Once Durik had climbed through the window and was on his way to the beach, Bart crossed over to the window Durik had just vacated. The goo which kept the door closed was still in effect. Lord Eythryn stood at the window as he tried to see what was going on down by the boats.

Bart was halfway there when another eight men appeared from the direction of the forest and raced toward the beach. He had to quicken his step to prevent the men from running him over. Invisible as he was, they wouldn’t have seen him.

“What’s going on?” Lord Eythryn shouted to the men.

One of them slowed while the others continued on. “Milord, the men Durik was looking for are trying to steal one of the boats,” the man replied with a slight bow of respect.

“Help me out of here,” the lord said.

“Yes milord,” the man replied, then hurried over to help him through the window.

Bart paused where he was and waited while the man assisted his lord. Glancing toward the beach, he saw the boat with his friends beginning to move away from the shoreline. Riyan and Chad were using the oars with great enthusiasm. Counting the figures on the boat, he was relieved to see they had all made it. Durik made to enter the water but a burst of sparks from Kevik caused him to stop.

“Get down there and find out what’s going on!” Lord Eythryn ordered once he had made it through the window.

With a bow and a quick ‘milord’, the man turned and raced toward the beach.

Lord Eythryn begun to follow his man when he was suddenly struck in the back of the head. Collapsing, the lord’s unconscious body was caught by Bart before it hit the ground. “Sorry about this, milord,” Bart told him. “But we can’t have your ships following my friends.”

Bart glanced around to make sure he remained unobserved, then slung the lord over his shoulder. Moving in the opposite direction of the beach, he made his way between the buildings. Heading for the edge of the settlement, he and Lord Eythryn were soon out of sight.

“After them!” Durik yelled at the man. Somehow that stupid sail they had raised with blankets and oars was pulling them away from the boat full of bowmen.

“Not without my lord’s order,” replied the captain. The captain had come ashore with a dozen men about the same time the one with archers set out in pursuit. And now he wouldn’t budge without his lord’s command.

“Pyck,” Durik said as he turned toward his faithful companion, “go back and bring Lord Eythryn here to order this idiot to follow them.”

“Yes sir,” Pyck said. Turning back toward the settlement, he broke into a run. The captain had six of his men go with him.

“If they get away because of this,” Durik bellowed, “I’ll have your head.” The men on the beach had formed into sides during the exchange between the captain and Durik. Those who followed Durik stood behind him, while those loyal to Lord Eythryn backed the captain. The men loyal to Lord Eythryn outnumbered Durik and his band by two to one. If you counted those still on the ships, it was more like five to one.

The captain wasn’t too worried about Durik making good his threat.

In short order, Pyck returned with one of the six men the captain had sent along.

“He’s not there,” Pyck said.

“What?” asked the captain and Durik at the same time.

“He’s not, sir,” Lord Eythryn’s man said to the captain.

The captain shot Durik a dark look then turned to his men. “Fan out and find him,” he ordered. “Jared,” the captain said to the man who had returned with Pyck. “Take the boat back to the ship and bring everyone ashore but a few to keep guard.”

“Yes sir!” Jared said. Taking two men with him, he hurried over to the boat the captain had arrived in.

Turning to Durik, the captain said, “If anything has happened to my lord, you will answer for it.”

Durik knew when he could bully someone into doing his bidding, and this captain was not such a person. “Pyck,” he said, “you and the others help search for Lord Eythryn.”

“As you wish,” replied Pyck.

His prey was getting away and now he had to waste precious time looking for that fool of a lord. If his desire to reach the island hadn’t been so great, he never would have enlisted the man’s aid. Turning back toward the water, he watched the boat with the makeshift sail grow smaller as it sailed further away. The boat carrying the archers had already turned back when it became apparent they weren’t going to be able to catch it.

Inside, Durik was fuming.