Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1

by Brian S. Pratt

  It took the entire morning and the better part of the afternoon before Riyan found the clearing he was looking for. It was surprising how many different areas in these hills looked exactly the same. And after finding the ‘area’ three times, the others were beginning to wonder if he would ever be able to locate it.

  He knew he finally found it when he crossed a stream and saw a mass of berry vines with an area of the outer fringe cut back. “There it is,” he said as he led them towards the opening. Coming to a stop before the hole in the ground, he turned back to the others and grinned.

  “That’s it?” Bart asked. Staring down into the black hole, he said, “Doesn’t look like much.”

  “Maybe not from up here,” Riyan replied. “But at the bottom of the hole is a passage that moves off to the right and left.

  “What are we waiting for?” asked Chad. He unslung his backpack and laid it on the ground a little bit away from the opening.

  “Shouldn’t leave our equipment out here,” Bart said. “We wouldn’t want a wild animal taking off with something.” When the other two turned toward him he added, “Our packs are full of food after all.”

  Seeing the wisdom in what he was saying, Chad picked up his pack.

  Riyan moved to the edge of the opening. He then sat on the edge with his legs extended within. While visions of chests, crypts, and hordes of gold ran wild through his mind, he scooted into the opening.

  The other two watched as he disappeared into the hole. A couple seconds later they heard him holler from where he came to land down below, “Come on down!”

  Chad glanced to Bart who grinned. “You first,” he offered.

  “Alright,” agreed Bart who cautiously approached, then entered the hole. Once he slid to the bottom, he found Riyan there already working on getting the lantern lit. By the time the wick was burning and illuminating the passage, Chad had joined them.

  With the lantern in one hand, Riyan moved down the passage to the right until he reached the spot where he had found the coin. Turning back to the others he pointed to the floor. “That’s where I found the coin,” he said. The lantern’s light revealed his footprints from his earlier time down here.

  Bart nodded and then looked closely at the walls. He saw how they showed the unmistakable signs of human construction. “This place is old,” he observed.

  “How old do you think?” Chad asked.

  “I don’t know,” he replied. “But giving that none of us are familiar with the markings on the coin, I doubt if anyone’s been down here for several hundred years.” Then he glanced at Chad. “Maybe longer.”

  “There could be anything down here!” exclaimed Riyan.

  “True,” Bart agreed. “But I would advise caution. There’s no telling what safeguards the previous occupants could have put into place.”

  “You mean traps?” Chad asked.

  Bart nodded. “Exactly.”

  A worried look came over Chad as he glanced towards the floor of the passage leading away.

  “Don’t worry,” said Bart. “I doubt if there would be anything in the middle of the passage.”

  “But let’s be careful anyway,” Riyan added. Taking the lead, he moved down the passage to the right. They didn’t get very far before coming to where another narrower passage branched off to their left. When they reached it, they found that it curved back around further to the left.

  Riyan brought them to a halt and glanced back at the others. “Which way?” he asked. The excitement of the moment making him almost giddy.

  “Take the smaller passage to the left,” suggested Chad. “It’s narrower so may not be a main passage.”

  Nodding, Riyan entered the new passage. Barely wide enough for a grown man to pass through without scraping his shoulders, it continued to curve back around to the left until it was running parallel to the passage they had just left. As the passage finished the curve and straightened out, they saw where it ended at an open entryway leading into what had to be a room.

  In his excitement, Riyan hurried to the entryway and passed through to the other side. The room he found himself in was only about fifteen feet by ten. A stone sarcophagus sat in the center of the room indicating they were in a burial chamber. The walls were plain, unadorned stone similar to that which was used in lining the passages.

  “Wow,” Riyan breathed under his breath as he came to stand next to the sarcophagus. He ran his hand across the top as he took in the ancient inscriptions engraved within the stone.

  “We must be in an ancient catacomb,” Chad observed, eyes lighting up. “They often bury gold and jewels with the dead.”

  Bart nodded. “Let’s get it open,” he said indicating the sarcophagus.

  “Do you think that’s wise?” asked Riyan. “I mean, stealing from the dead is supposed to be bad luck.”

  Shrugging, Bart replied, “It’s up to you. We could always come back if there’s nothing else down here.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Riyan, “that might be a better idea. If there was a chest or something in the room with it, that’s one thing, but to take something from the dead itself?” A shiver coursed through him at the very thought.

  “Then let’s go find something else,” urged Chad.

  “Wait a second,” Bart said as something caught his eye from the other side of the sarcophagus. He moved around the sarcophagus and reached down to pick up another of the coins. He grinned as he held it up for the others to see.

  “It’s exactly like the other one I found,” Riyan exclaimed.

  “Yes it is,” nodded Bart. He put it in his pouch and then indicated for Riyan to lead the way from the room.

  Once they passed through the narrow passage and were back in the main one, he turned and continued down they way they had previously been heading. It wasn’t long before the passage they were following ended at a ‘T’ junction. Riyan paused momentarily to shine the light from the lantern down the left, then to the right. Both directions extended further than the light could reach. Riyan decided to take the right.

  The new passage was exactly like the one they had just left, and it too ended in a ‘T’ junction not too far down. This time however, the passages to the right and left were narrower, just as the curving passage leading to the room with the sarcophagus had been.

  Again he chose the right and hurried along. The narrow passage extended straight ahead for a short span then turned abruptly to the right. As Riyan turned the corner, he saw an entryway to another burial chamber. Moving forward, he passed through into the room and gasped.

  No sarcophagus within this room. Rather, within the walls on the right and left sides of the room, were stone biers. Laid out upon each of the stone biers was a corpse. Both of them had been dressed in armor, yet time had reduced the armor to nothing more than rust. Skeletal faces looked out from within the helms they wore.

  But it wasn’t the sight of the dead that made Riyan gasp. Rather it was the chests that sat on the floor beneath each of them. “Oh man,” he said with renewed excitement. Moving forward to the chest on the right, he set the lantern down as he gripped the lid. But try as he might, he couldn’t get it open. The chest was locked. Behind him, Chad was trying the other chest only to find that it too was locked.

  Riyan stood up disappointed and said, “It’s locked.”

  “So is this one,” Chad said.

  Bart took off his pack and set it on the floor. He opened it and pulled out a rolled piece of leather. Holding it up, he glanced to Riyan and grinned. “I may be able to do something about that.” Leaving his pack on the ground, he carried the rolled piece of leather and moved to the chest where he knelt down before it. He then untied the thong securing the piece of leather and set it on the ground next to the chest.

  Riyan watched as he unrolled it. Within were small tools ranging in size from two to four inches in length. “What are you going to do with those?” he asked.

  “You’ve never seen lockpicks before?” Bart asked.

  “
No,” replied Riyan.

  “Can’t you be arrested for just having them in your possession?” asked Chad.

  “So I’ve heard,” he replied. Taking out two of the tools, he inserted their tips within the lock and began working the tumblers inside. After a few moments, he felt the ‘click’ that always accompanied the unlocking of the lock. He then replaced his tools in the rolled leather before taking hold of the lid and opening it.

  Inside was what had to have once been several weapons but were now nothing more than piles of rust. Riyan held the lantern close to better see the interior in the hopes of there being treasure. After sifting through the rusty remains, they came up with nothing.

  “Try the other one,” suggested Chad.

  Bart nodded and picked up his lockpicks and crossed the room to work on the other chest. Then just as before with the first one, he felt the ‘click’ and lifted open the lid.

  Inside this chest were the rusted remains of weapons, similar to the ones that had been in the first chest. But this time, there were several stacks of the coins they found earlier. “There must be twenty or so of them!” Riyan exclaimed excitedly. After pulling them out and counting them, they discovered there were twenty four. Riyan divided them among himself and the others. Each put eight coins in their packs.

  “Wonder how much they’re worth?” Chad asked as they were leaving the tomb.

  “If you consider just the copper used in making them, not much,” explained Bart. “But due to their age, certain people would be willing to pay more for them.”

  “Excellent.” Riyan gave them all a grin as they returned to the ‘T’ junction. He then crossed over to the other narrow passage and began making his way through. After going straight for a short span, the passage turned back to the left and they came to another tomb with two biers, one on each side of the room.

  Just as in the previous room, the dead were arrayed in rusted armor and a chest sat on the floor beneath them. Again, the chests were locked and Bart used his lockpicks to get them open. This time they found thirty of the coins and two small gems among the rusted remains of ancient weapons. They got quite excited about the gems until Bart explained they were rather common and wouldn’t bring much gold. Riyan didn’t care, he was having the time of his life.

  They left the room and returned to the ‘T’ junction where they turned and followed the wider passage back the way they came. Once they returned to the first ‘T’ junction of the two main passages, they continued on past the passage leading back to the hole out to the surface.

  They came to another ‘T’ junction with two narrow passages leading right and left to two more crypts. These also each held two stone biers upon which the dead were laid out, with matching chests below.

  The first room of the new pair yielded eighteen of the coins. Riyan was slightly disappointed at not finding more. “You can’t expect more treasure with each room we come to,” Bart said. “Frankly, I’m surprised to have found what we already have.”

  “I know,” replied Riyan.

  They left the room behind and went to check out the room on the other side of the ‘T’. When Bart went to pick the lock of the first chest, he paused.

  “What?” asked Chad.

  Bart tapped an area near the lock. It had a marking on it that didn’t blend in perfectly with the overall design of the chest. “I didn’t see this on the other ones,” he explained.

  Riyan moved the lantern closer and saw what looked to him little more than scratches. “So?” he asked.

  “This may indicate a trap of some kind,” he said as he turned to glance up at them.

  “Why would you think that?” asked Chad.

  “Just something my father told me one time,” he replied. “You see, chests such as these that are trapped, often have some marking on them telling the owner what kind of trap it holds.”

  “That’s stupid,” scorned Chad. “I mean, wouldn’t that give a thief an idea that something is not right?”

  “Yes,” agreed Bart. “But most chest makers who specialize in traps always put an unobtrusive mark on it so they’ll know what it is and how to disarm it. Just because I know it’s there, doesn’t mean I can disarm it.”

  “But why would they do that?” Riyan asked.

  Sighing, Bart stood up and turned towards them. “Suppose you commissioned a chest for a specific purpose and with a specific type of trap. And suppose further that once you got it home you accidentally closed the lid and locked it before whatever you wanted to put in it was inside. How are you going to get it back open?”

  “I would think the chest maker would have given the owner instructions on how to open it,” said Chad.

  “Oh they do,” agreed Bart, “but there are stupid people out there who forget, lose the instructions, etc. So chest makers put markings on each chest that holds a trap so if they are called out to open a trapped chest, they will be able to do so.”

  “I guess that makes sense,” said Riyan.

  “How do you know so much about this?” Chad asked.

  Bart gave him a look, shook his head as he rolled his eyes, and then knelt back down in front of the chest.

  “He’s got lockpicks,” Riyan informed his friend. “Who has lockpicks?”

  “Thieves?” replied Chad.

  “Or sons of thieves,” added Bart. “Now be quiet and let me work on this. You two may wish to wait out in the passage, just in case something goes wrong.”

  Riyan nodded for Chad to join him as he moved out of the room and waited at the entryway. They watched as Bart first examined the outside of the chest very closely before scrutinizing the area around the lock. After a few tense moments, Bart placed the tips of his thumbs on either side of the keyhole and pressed. Then he turned to them and grinned, “I got it.”

  The other two hurried back into the room and saw a needle protruding from the keyhole. “It was a ‘Prick of Poison’ as my father would call it,” he explained. “It’s designed to prick the finger of the thief and deliver a poison of some kind. Some poisons become ineffective over time, while others grow more potent.”

  “Is it unlocked?” Chad asked.

  Bart shook his head. “Not yet.” Turning back to the chest, he removed the same two tools he used on the previous chests from his lockpicks and very carefully began working around the needle. Once he had the lock picked, he opened the lid.

  Riyan moved closer to see what treasure may be inside. “You’ve got to be kidding!” he exclaimed when he saw the usual fare of rusted weapons and a scattering of the coins. “What’s the point of putting a trap on this garbage?”

  “Vanity maybe” replied Bart. “Or it could have been for some other reason. Who knows?”

  “Seems a waste of time to trap this sort of stuff,” Chad agreed with Riyan.

  Riyan knelt down in front of the chest and said, “Maybe there’s a secret compartment lining the bottom or top.” Bart moved aside and then collected his lockpicks as he went to work on the other chest. Running his fingers along the inside, Riyan hunted for anything that might indicate something was hidden.

  Remembering a tale told by a bard about treasure hunters, he tapped the bottom of the chest and the top. After several minutes of fruitless searching, he was unable to find anything. “Ten coins!” he exclaimed as he collected them. “Ten lousy coins!”

  “It’s better than nothing,” offered Chad.

  Riyan glared at him then came to his senses. “You’re right,” he said. “It’s just that I was expecting something a bit more…”

  “Expensive?” his friend finished for him.

  “Something like that, yeah” Riyan nodded.

  Just then, Bart raised the lid of the other chest. “More coins,” he told them. He did a quick count and said, “Twenty three.”

  “Every little bit helps,” Chad said when he saw the disappointment in his friend’s eyes.

  Bart collected the coins then stood up. “You may have unrealistic expectations about this place,�
�� he said as he turned back towards Riyan. “Judging by the construction and the state of the dead, I would guess that finding something worth real gold is unlikely.”

  “Exactly,” agreed Chad. “Let’s hope we find at least enough so I can help my father with the new grinding wheels.”

  Riyan gave him a grin and laid his hand on his shoulder. “You got it,” he said. “At the very least, we’re living the dream of being treasure hunters.”

  “Just like the sagas,” agreed Chad with a grin of his own.

  “Onward fearless treasure hunters!” Riyan exclaimed then the three friends broke into laughter. They left the crypt and returned back the way they came until they reached the ‘T’ with the main passage leading down to where they entered this place.

  “Pack’s getting heavy,” Chad said.

  “You’ve only got about thirty coins in there,” Bart told him. “If it gets too heavy, you can give me some of yours.”

  “That’s okay,” Chad assured him, “I’m sure I’ll manage.” Riyan laughed.

  They left the ‘T’ behind them and headed down the passage back towards the hole in the ceiling through which they entered. When they passed the curving narrow passage that led to the sarcophagus, they knew they were almost there.

  Then Bart all of a sudden came to an abrupt halt. The other two who were walking behind him stopped as well. “What?” asked Chad.

  He pointed down the passage ahead of them and in a quiet whisper said, “Look.” When the other two looked down the passage to where he was indicating, two red dots could be seen. They looked for all the world like a pair of eyes and they were staring right at them. Light filtering down from outside showed them the hole in the ceiling and the way out, unfortunately it was closer to the red eyes than it was to them.

  “Back up slowly,” Bart said as he began walking backwards. Riyan and Chad both started moving backwards as well when a god awful roar reverberated through the passage.

  “Run!” yelled Bart as he turned around to flee. Behind them, they could hear the grunting of a large animal as it thundered towards them.

  When the lantern’s light revealed the curving passage coming up on their left, Chad got an idea and said, “Into the passage.” Leading the others, he raced into the passage and followed it quickly to the room with the sarcophagus. “Help me with the lid!” he replied. Moving to the sarcophagus, he gripped the side of the lid and waited for the others to come and help.

  “I can’t do it by myself,” he told them. “We can block the entryway with it!”

  Getting the idea, Riyan and Bart each came and took hold of an edge. Then giving out with groans of strain, they lifted the heavy stone lid up and off the sarcophagus. “Man this is heavy,” gasped Riyan.

  From the narrow passage outside the room, they heard the growls of the beast as it worked its way towards them. “Hurry!” Chad exclaimed.

  Once the end of the lid that was nearest the entryway was past the edge of the sarcophagus, they rested the lid on the edge and slid it the rest of the way to the floor. Out in the passage, the red eyes of the beast were now visible as it rounded the curve. The sheer size of the creature hampered it as it tried to navigate through the narrow way. It was wedged in on both sides and had to push its bulk through to get to them.

  They worked the lid closer to the entryway. When it was within inches, they lifted the other end and set it against the top of the opening. “Now what?” asked Bart.

  “I don’t know,” replied Chad. “My plan only went as far as blocking off the room.”

  Riyan glanced to the body that was lying within the sarcophagus. A sword lay along the top of the body, its hilt clasped in the corpse’s skeletal hands. Perhaps it was the fact that it had been within a sealed sarcophagus, but the metal looked to have withstood the passage of time.

  Bam!

  The creature struck the other side of the lid where it blocked the entryway and almost knocked the lid back into the room. Chad and Bart put their shoulders against it to keep it upright.

  Bam!

  Again the creature struck the lid, this time a small piece of it broke off. “It’s not going to withstand blows like that for much longer,” Chad said.

  “Oh yeah, this was a good idea,” said Bart rather sarcastically.

  “There was no other place to go,” insisted Chad. Then he glanced back at where Riyan was bent over the sarcophagus. “Riyan, we could use your help right about now!”

  “Just a second,” replied Riyan. He gripped the hands of the corpse and was in the midst of trying to remove them from the hilt of the sword. Once he had the hilt free, he grabbed it and tried to lift it out with one hand. When he could barely move it, he used both hands and struggled to get it out.

  The sword was massive, what you would call a two-handed sword. It took all of his strength simply to raise it and carry it towards the entryway. “Careful with that!” Bart exclaimed when the edge of the sword came close and almost struck him.

  Riyan took the sword and moved to face the gap between the lid and the entryway. He saw the forepaw of the creature poke through for a moment before it withdrew. “I think it’s a mountain bear,” he told the others.

  “Great,” replied Bart. “Now kill it!”

  Riyan lifted the sword until it was parallel with the ground. Then he aimed it at the gap between the lid and the entryway. He gave out with a cry and ran forward, at the same time he thrust the sword through the gap. His forward momentum was abruptly halted as the point of the sword struck flesh.

  The beast roared in pain as the sword sank into its flesh. Whatever part of the body that was struck suddenly jerked and Riyan almost lost his grip on the hilt. But he yanked back quickly and retained the sword. The blade was stained red six inches from the tip. From the other side of the lid, the beast had grown quiet.

  “I got it!” replied Riyan as he showed the others the sword.

  “But whether you killed it or not remains to be seen,” Bart stated.

  They listened for a few seconds and could only hear muted breathing from the other side. Riyan propped the sword against the wall a foot down from the entryway as it was growing more difficult to hold.

  “It isn’t dead,” Chad finally said as the sound the beast’s breathing from the other side continued.

  “Riyan,” Bart whispered, “take a look.” He then indicated the gap between the lid and the entryway through which he had struck the creature with the sword.

  “Alright,” he agreed. Leaving the sword where it was, he grabbed the lantern and moved towards the crack. The crack itself wasn’t all that big as the base of the lid was only six inches from the base of the entryway. Now that he took a good look at it, he’s surprised that he was even able to hit the creature through it.

  He moved closer, and even got down on his knees to peer through to the other side better. Chad and Bart maintained their position against the sarcophagus’ lid should the creature again try to bull its way in.

  At the base of the entryway was a small pool of blood. “It’s lost some blood,” he told the others. Peering through with the lantern next to him, he tried to locate the creature. After a minute off looking, he backed away and said, “I can’t really see anything.”

  “Try striking with the sword again,” Bart said. “If it’s close, you might hit it.”

  “But that might make it mad,” Chad said.

  Bart glanced to Chad. “Do you want to stay down here forever?” He waited for him to shake his head no then added, “It’s that or we move the lid aside.”

  Chad turned to Riyan and said, “You better try the sword.”

  Riyan nodded, he didn’t relish the idea of removing the protection the stone lid was affording them. So, taking up the sword again, he did just as he did the first time. He aimed the point of the sword for the crack and with a cry, thrust hard. The blade slid through the crack and failed to hit anything.

  “I guess we’re going to have to move the lid aside to see,” he said
after the failed attempt.

  Bart nodded. “Stand ready,” he told Riyan. Then to Chad he said, “We’ll pull it back a little ways. But be ready should the beast move to attack again.” When Chad acknowledged the plan, Bart glanced to Riyan. “Ready?”

  Riyan raised the sword and nodded.

  “Easy now,” Bart told Chad. With great care, they began pulling the sarcophagus lid away from the entryway.

  Sweat beaded his forehead as Riyan watched the lid begin to move away from the entryway. He expected at any minute for the beast to launch another assault, and as the lid inched its way further back, his apprehension grew.

  They finally had moved the lid back far enough for Riyan to see the creature lying just on the other side of the entryway. The rise and fall of its back told him that it was still alive. “It’s right on the other side,” he whispered to the other two.

  “Can you get at it?” asked Chad.

  “I think so,” Riyan replied. Raising the sword, he drove it forward and the point struck the creature in the side. The creature gave out with a grunt.

  “Well?” asked Chad.

  “I hit it but it didn’t move,” he replied.

  “It’s not doing anything?” Bart asked.

  Riyan left the sword in the creature’s body. He turned to his friends and shook his head.

  Bart indicated to Chad that they should move the lid to the side. Once it was out of the way, they looked to the creature and found that it was indeed one of the large mountain bears common to this region. The sword stuck out of its side and blood continued to pump with every beat of its heart.

  “Why doesn’t it attack?” asked Chad.

  Bart moved closer and saw blood welling from just behind its head. “I think your first blow took it in the spine,” he said. Then he saw the eyes of the beast upon him and he took a quick step backwards. When the bear made no move to attack, he knew that the bear’s spinal column had been severed.

  He turned to the others. “We need to put it out of its misery.”

  “You two do it,” Riyan said. His arms and legs are shaking from the earlier attacks. The weight of the sword plus the adrenalin rush that was wearing off, had sapped his strength.

  Bart nodded and grasped the hilt of the sword in both hands. Pulling it out of the bear’s side, he raised it high over his head. Using every ounce of strength he had, he thrust it into the bear. He was rather surprised that he managed to sink half of the blade into it before the tip hit bone and stopped.

  “That had to do it,” said Chad.

  They watched the sides of the bear continue to go in and out as it breathed. Then, the frequency of its breaths went down until they stopped altogether.

  “Maybe we should get out of here and make camp for the night,” suggested Riyan. “I for one could use some rest.”

  “Might not be a bad idea,” agreed Chad. “I’m getting hungry.”

  Bart pulled out his knife and began carving off a hunk of the bear for their dinner.

  Riyan stopped him before he could cut very deep. “Wait to do that until we’re on the other side,” he said. “It’s going to be bad enough as it is.”

  He stopped carving when he realized what he was talking about. The bear’s body completely blocked the lower half of the entryway and most of it was already covered in blood. Then he laughed. He’s not sure why, but he started laughing and it wasn’t long before Riyan and Chad joined him.

  They worked their way over the bear’s carcass and once on the other side, Bart carved out a chunk of meat. He carried it as he followed the other two down the narrow curving passage and back to the main passage. Then it was just down a little ways until they reached the opening leading to the surface.

  “Look,” Riyan when came to the slope leading up. They could see the tracks the bear made as it came down the slope. “Wonder what it was doing in here?”

  “Maybe looking for a den,” suggested Bart.

  “Or dinner,” added Chad.

  “I just hope there’s not another one out there,” Riyan said as he headed up the slope first.

  The sun had already dipped past the tops of the mountains to the west. They got a fire going and once Riyan had a spit put together to roast the meat, they went down to the stream and washed the blood off.

  That night as they sat around the fire, they talked about what they found down below, the bear attack, and what they may possibly find in the morning.

  Chapter Eight

  _______________________