Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1

by Brian S. Pratt

  The clinking of coins woke Chad the following morning. He turned over and saw Riyan stacking his share of the coins on the ground before him. Chad sat up and groaned, “Not again.”

  Riyan glanced over to his friend and grinned. “I can’t help it,” he replied.

  “You must have counted them ten times last night before we went to sleep,” he stated.

  “Sorry,” his friend said. “I just like to look at them.”

  The morning dawned a beautiful day with just a hint of clouds forming a wreath that circled the mountain peaks. Chad looked around and didn’t see Bart anywhere. “Where did Bart go?” he asked.

  Riyan nodded toward the stream. “He went that way,” he explained. “Said would be back shortly.” Now that Chad’s up, Riyan put his coins away and they got breakfast going. Soon the odor of bacon and eggs was wafting through the hills.

  Down by the stream Bart was walking along, simply enjoying the quiet of the hills. When he first came to Quillim, it was more out of need than desire. Having lived all his life in the city, it was hard for him to adjust to the openness of the country. But it didn’t take long before he grew to cherish it.

  Oh sure, he still longed for the city; the hustle, bustle, and constant noise, even late at night there was always something dispelling the quiet. It was home. When he accompanied Chad to Phyndyr’s, it had reawakened his longing for the streets. He just wished that he could go back.

  Stepping along the edge of the gently flowing water, his thoughts drifted back to his days in Wardean. His life on her streets had never been dull. Then he smelled the odor of bacon wafting from camp and realized he’d better return before the other two ate it all.

  Their camp wasn’t situated near the opening to the underground area. Instead, they had crossed the stream and camped a hundred yards away. Not having their camp near the entrance was Riyan’s idea. He didn’t want someone to stumble upon their camp and then discover the entrance, at least not until they were through exploring it for themselves.

  When they were finished with breakfast, they carried all their equipment with them to the underground area. “Wish we could block this off somehow,” Chad said as he worked his way down to the passage below.

  “I know what you mean,” replied Riyan. None of them wished for a repeat of the incident with the bear.

  “Don’t know how we could,” added Bart as he entered the hole in the ground and slid down.

  Riyan already had one of the lanterns lit and was looking down to the left hand passage where they had yet to explore. “Hope we find something interesting today,” he said.

  “Me too,” agreed Chad. He then took off all his equipment and bedroll and laid them on the passage floor. “I’m not going to haul this around again today.”

  The others removed their equipment as well. All each of them took with them were their packs which they slung across their shoulders. Bart also brought the other lantern just in case. None of them wished to be down here without a light in the event something happened to their other one.

  “All ready?” Riyan asked with renewed excitement.

  “You bet,” Chad replied. Bart nodded.

  Setting out, Riyan took the lead and moved down the passage. He didn’t go far before another curving narrow passage branched off to their right. Without hesitation, he entered the passage. It continued to curve back to the right until it was running parallel to the main passage. The narrow passage went straight for a few more feet before ending at an entryway to another crypt holding a sarcophagus.

  “Just like the other one,” observed Chad.

  Riyan nodded and entered the crypt. A quick search turned up nothing so they left the room and returned through the curving passage back to the main passage. Then they turned to the right and continued down for a ways before coming to another ‘T’ junction.

  He glanced down to the left and right but couldn’t see any difference between them. Riyan decided to take the left passage and moved into it. It didn’t go very far before they came to yet another ‘T’ junction. To their left and right, narrow passages branched off just like the ones they discovered the previous day.

  They explored them and turned up two more of the rooms with the stone biers within the walls on either end. The chests below the biers contained a sum total of fifteen of the coins and another small gem. Once finished with searching the two rooms, they returned to the main passage, and this time took the right at the ‘T’.

  “This place seems to be laid out according to a pattern,” observed Bart. “The bier rooms are in pairs, while the rooms with the sarcophagi are by themselves with a curved passage connecting them to the main passage.”

  “That’s been true so far,” agreed Chad.

  Continuing down the passage, they came to where another main passage connected to theirs on the left. When Riyan shined the lantern’s light down it, the light revealed the ceiling of the passage had caved in.

  “That didn’t happen too long ago,” Riyan told the others. “The dirt’s still fresh.”

  “Could’ve happened during the earthquake,” suggested Chad.

  Nodding, Riyan glanced to him. “I was thinking the same thing.”

  “Wonder what was down there?” Bart asked. “We should have thought to bring a shovel.”

  “If we come back here another time, let’s remember to bring one,” said Chad.

  Riyan nodded then turned back to the main passage and continued on. Twenty feet or so after they left the blocked passage behind, they came to a flight of steps descending into darkness on their right.

  “Alright!” exclaimed Riyan when the lantern’s light revealed the steps.

  He started moving into them when Bart said, “Let’s finish up here first.”

  Riyan turned to him and was about ready to argue the point. For in all the sagas he’s ever heard that tell of treasure hunters, the deeper one goes, the better the treasure gets. But then he realized there’s no point in hurrying it along and nodded. “Okay.”

  They spent the better part of a half hour finishing the exploration of this level. Two crypts holding sarcophagi and six bier rooms later, they returned to the stairs leading down. Two of the chests in the bier rooms had the Pricks of Poison trap which Bart readily disarmed. He told them that once you know what’s there, it’s pretty simple to take care of it. Riyan had his doubts about that, but trusted in Bart’s skill.

  Their packs were now fifty three coins and three gems heavier when they finished searching this level. At least one of the gems was slightly larger than the others that they found and should bring more coins.

  Riyan took the lead again as they descended to the next level. They descended twenty steps before the stairs ended at a passageway moving to their right and left. Here the stonework was of much better quality. The walls of the passage looked as if more care had been put into their construction than what they saw up above. Also, sconces that once must have held torches are spaced along the walls at ten foot intervals.

  “Looks like we’ve entered a better area,” Riyan said.

  “Or it was built later than the one above,” added Chad.

  When Riyan glanced back at them, they could see the grin that’s spread across his face. They also noticed how his eyes were practically dancing in anticipation.

  “Relax,” Bart told him. “The last thing we need to do is get in a hurry in a place like this.”

  “I’ll try,” he said but the tone of his voice belied the statement.

  Moving down to the right, they followed the passage until it turned abruptly to the left. Not far past the corner, another passage, slightly smaller than the main one they were in branched off to their right.

  Riyan shined the light down the new passage and saw at the edge of the light how it opened up onto another room. “May have something here,” he said and moved forward.

  The room at the end of the short passage was rectangular in shape, stretching to the right and left. Two large tapestries that hadn’
t survive the passing of time well, hung upon the walls. The fabric had deteriorated so badly, that whatever they at one time depicted was no longer discernable.

  In the center of the room, two stone biers sat six feet apart. Lying upon each were the skeletal remains of warriors. The skulls were encased in helms and armor covered the rest of the body. Their hands gripped the hilt of the swords that lay upon their breasts.

  Bart entered the room and moved to the skeleton on the right and briefly examined its sword. The blade showed extensive damage by rust as did the armor.

  “No chests here,” said Riyan unhappily.

  “That’s true,” said Bart. Then he had Riyan follow him with the lantern as he closely examined the biers upon which the dead lay. “However, there are other means by which people store their valuables than simple wooden chests.” The biers were more than just simple blocks of stone. They were carved with figures locked in battle.

  As Bart ran his fingers across one of the figures, he felt it shift under his touch. “Aha!” he exclaimed.

  “What?” asked Riyan as he moved in closer to see.

  “May have found something,” he told him. “Back off a little and give me some room.”

  “Sorry,” he said and then backed up a foot. Chad came over and stood beside him as they watched Bart feel around the figure.

  Bart was sure that if he pressed the figure it would release a catch holding open a secret compartment. But he also remembered his father telling him how in situations such as he now found himself, devices like this invariable were trapped. The problem was that he didn’t know how to disarm it.

  He stood up and turned around to Riyan. “I wish you would have brought your staff down here with you.” It’s currently sitting up on the upper level with all their other equipment.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “I think I found how to open the compartment,” he explained, “but it may be trapped. If I had your staff, I could do it from a distance.”

  “No problem there,” Riyan told him, “I’ll just run up and get it.”

  “Alright,” Bart nodded.

  As he turned to leave, Chad grabbed his arm and said, “Hurry.”

  He grinned at his friend and said, “I will.” Then he hurried from the room and took the lantern with him. In short order, Bart and Chad were left in the dark.

  They waited there for what seemed like hours, and when Chad began to express worry about what may have happened to him, the passage leading to the crypt began to lighten. Soon, Riyan rejoined them with staff in hand. “I’ll be sure to keep this with me from now on,” he told the others as he handed it to Bart.

  Bart took the staff and said, “It might be safer if you two waited out in the passage. Leave the lantern on the ground first though.”

  Riyan set the lantern on the ground near Bart then he and Chad left the room. They came to a stop several feet from the entryway, just far enough out of the room to still be able to see what happened.

  Once Bart saw that they were safely out of the room, he too stepped back as far as he could and still be able to place the end of the staff on the figure. Then he lifted the staff and held it at arm’s reach. He positioned himself a little to one side as he moved the end of the staff to lie against the figure. Holding his breath, he depressed the figure with the end of the staff.

  No sooner had the figure been depressed then a liquid squirted out from two different places on either side. The liquid shot out and landed a good two feet from the bier. When the liquid hit the stone floor, it began to eat away at it.

  Bart turned back to the others and said, “Acid.”

  “If you had pressed that with you finger, it would have hit you,” Riyan said as he moved back into the room.

  Handing him back his staff, Bart replied, “That was the whole idea of the trap I’m sure.” He glanced to the stone where the liquid hit and saw that the corrosiveness of the acid ate away almost a quarter inch of the stone’s surface before it began to fizzle out. He thought to himself, That would have hurt.

  Turning his attention back to the bier, he noticed that over a foot long section of its side had popped out a little bit. Moving closer, he took hold of the edge and pulled the piece of stone. As it turned out, it was a long drawer filled with the deceased’s belongings.

  “That is cool,” Chad said as Bart pulled the drawer out. It finally came to a stop when it was two feet out and no amount of pulling would budge it further. Making sure not to step in the acid on the floor, Chad and Riyan moved closer to see what was inside.

  Within the drawer lay a weapon wrapped in cloth. The cloth lay in tatters, and when they unwrapped the dagger that was inside, found the blade to be brittle.

  Another sack lay alongside the dagger. Within they found twenty of the coins, plus five coins of another type. These were slightly larger and silver in color. “Are those silver coins?” asked Chad.

  Riyan picked one up. “Looks like it,” he replied. “But they’re heavier than what we use now.”

  Bart took one of the silver coins and nodded. “I’d say it’s about one and a half times the weight of the coins in use today.” The design on the two sides of the silver coins matched what was on the copper coins.

  They removed the coins and left the dagger. Then Bart moved on to the other bier in the room. A quick search located another movable figure. Using the same strategy he employed on the first one, he pressed the figure with the staff. Again, a spurt of acid and a similar drawer popped open.

  Within they found a set of daggers and what may have been a book, but time had destroyed them beyond use. When Riyan touched the book, its pages cracked and disintegrated under his touch. The drawer wasn’t without treasure as they found another ten silvers and thirty coppers. There was also a gold necklace nestled in among the coins.

  Riyan held up the necklace and showed it to Bart. “Think this is worth anything?” he asked.

  “If it’s real gold, yes,” he replied.

  “Don’t know why it wouldn’t be,” Riyan said as he put it in his pack.

  Once their booty was stowed in their packs, they left the room and continued down the passage to the right. Fifty feet further down, they came to a larger entryway on their left. When they reached it, the light revealed a much larger room than any they’ve come across so far.

  The room was quite large. Three columns were spaced evenly down the center of the room, moving from the entryway where Riyan and the others stood, to another entryway in the wall directly across the room from them on the other side. To the left and right of the columns sat three stone biers, six altogether. They were identical to those that had been in the previous room they found on this level, except that the armor the dead were wearing was slightly different. These too were ravaged by rust.

  “This must be someplace special,” said Chad.

  “It would seem so,” agreed Bart.

  The walls of the room bore carvings of men in battle from one end to the other. Riyan took a closer look and saw that what the men were fighting wasn’t entirely human. “Look at this,” he said to the other two.

  Bart and Chad came to stand by him as he pointed out the creatures the men were fighting. They were roughly the same size and shape as the fighters. Bipedal humanoids, but that’s where the similarity ended. Their faces were bestial, small horns sprouted from their foreheads, and a long scaly tail touched the ground behind them.

  “Ever seen anything like this before?” asked Riyan.

  “No,” admitted Bart. “But burial chambers such as these often have murals and such depicting the dead in a heroic and favorable light.”

  Chad nodded.

  Bart then set about trying to find the hidden catch that would open each of the drawers in the six biers. The first one he came across, he did the staff trick again to open it. Only this time when he depressed the figure with the staff, nothing happened other than the drawer popped open a little bit. No liquid this time.

  Riyan moved forward and s
aid, “Guess it was broken.” He reached the drawer and gripped the part that was protruding. Just as he began to pull it open, Bart yelled “Stop!” But his warning came too late.

  No sooner had the cavity within the drawer cleared the side of the bier than a dart flew out and struck Riyan in the arm. “Damn!” he cursed as his other hand quickly moved to remove the dart. He cried out as the dart came free for its head had two nasty barbs that ripped his flesh as he pulled it out.

  “Flush it with water quick!” Bart yelled.

  Chad removed his water flask and upended it over the wound. He emptied its entire contents as he washed the blood away. A tearing sound drew his attention and he turned to see Bart tearing off a piece of cloth to use as a bandage.

  “It’s not that bad,” Riyan said through gritted teeth. “I’ll live.”

  Bart wrapped the cloth around the wound and tied it off. “It’s not the wound itself that concerns me,” he said. “It’s what may have been on the dart that has me worried.”

  “You mean poison?” asked Chad.

  Bart nodded. “That’s usually what you’ll find on a dart in circumstances like this.”

  Riyan turned fearful eyes to him and asked, “Am I going to die?”

  “I don’t know,” he replied. “How do you feel?”

  He took a moment to see if he felt the poison taking affect then said, “I don’t feel any different.”

  “You could be lucky in that the potency of the poison has deteriorated over the years,” he said. “If you start feeling nauseous or dizzy, let us know right away.”

  “You got it,” he said.

  Then Bart glanced at both of them and said, “From now on, no one opens anything until I say it’s okay.”

  Both Chad and Riyan nodded affirmatively.

  Then Bart set about searching the remaining five biers while the other two examined the contents of the drawer they just opened. More rusted weapons and a few coins, three of the silver and ten of the copper.

  “You know,” commented Chad, “it just seems odd to me that soldiers for whom someone took such care to build this place for and were laid out so respectfully, would have so little in the way of valuables.” When Riyan glanced at him he gestured to the skeletal remains of the man in armor atop the bier and said, “I mean, wouldn’t you think this guy here would have more than a couple weapons and a modest amount of coins?”

  Riyan shrugged. “Maybe it was their custom. Or perhaps their family only gave them what they had too and saved the rest for themselves.”

  Chad grinned and nodded. “I’d probably do the same.”

  Ahhhh!

  Bart’s cry drew their attention and they looked over at the next bier just in time to see him jump back out of the way of an acid spray. “What happened?” Riyan said as he and Chad hurried over to him.

  “I got sloppy,” he said. “I forgot that when there are many of the same type of traps in the same place, they are often set to go off differently to foil thieves.” He pointed to the bier he was working on. “That one had the spray come out at a little different angle and almost got me.”

  “You’re okay though?” asked Chad.

  Bart nodded. “Yes,” he replied. “That one’s safe, you can go through it while I finish the rest of them.”

  So that’s what they did. While Bart would work on one, Chad and Riyan would go through the ones he already opened. When they were at last done with this room, Bart had managed to again narrowly avoid another acid spray as well as two more Pricks of Poison. The drawers of the remaining five had contributed sixty five more of the coppers, thirteen of the silvers and five small gems to their bulging packs.

  Chad patted his pack and said, “We must have a fortune by now.”

  Bart grinned at his enthusiasm. “Actually we have a little over three golds worth, not counting the gems and the necklace,” he corrected.

  Holding up his bulging pack, he said, “How can this be worth so little?”

  “It’s the copper coins,” Bart replied. “It takes a lot to make a gold. Of course, the age of the coins could bring more value if we only knew the right person to talk to.”

  “Do you?” asked Riyan.

  Shaking his head, Bart said, “I know a fence where we could get rid of this stuff, but he wouldn’t care too much about their age.”

  “Why would we want to get rid of this stuff?” Riyan asked.

  Bart removed one of the coins and held it up. “Anyone who sees this coin is going to wonder where you got it from,” he replied. “And in case you didn’t already know, Duke Alric has made it law that he gets twenty percent of any treasure recovered in his dukedom. Something like this would be considered recovered treasure I’m afraid.”

  “You’re kidding?” Chad said.

  Shaking his head, Bart replied, “No I’m not. In fact, if you’re found guilty of finding treasure without turning over his share, it’s considered thieving.”

  “Great!” said Riyan. The plans that had been going through his mind as to what to do with the treasure all of a sudden went up in smoke.

  “Don’t worry,” Bart replied. “A quick trip to Wardean and we’ll get this exchanged for regular coins that won’t raise as much suspicion.”

  “How much will the fence take for doing this?” asked Riyan.

  “He takes ten percent.” Bart looked at both of them and shrugged. “Ten percent, twenty, or take the chance of standing before the Duke’s Court on charges of thievery. It’s your choice.”

  Riyan’s mood hardly improved, but he could see the wisdom in what Bart said. “Well, ten percent is still better than having one’s hand cut off.” Which was what the penalty for thieving happened to be.

  Chad slaps him on the back and grins. “What price adventure?” he asked.

  Then Riyan nodded as a grin spread across his face too. “No point in getting mad,” he said. “There’s treasure to be found!”

  When they were ready to leave the room, they had a choice before them. They could either return out the way they came in and continue searching from there, or they could leave by the entryway on the opposite side. After a second of deliberation, they chose to return the way they entered. That way they wouldn’t miss anything or take the chance of becoming turned around.

  So back out to the passage where they continued following the passage to the left. A short ways further down they encountered another room on their right holding two biers. Bart was quick to disarm the traps, or triggered them safely as the case warranted. They acquired another twenty seven copper coins and five silver. As they left the room and continued down the passage, Riyan got to thinking that the coins he had in his pack represented more money than he and his mother could expect to make in a year or two with the sheep. He felt better about things when he came to that realization and was better able to enjoy the adventure.

  Once back out in the passage, they followed it a little further until it turned to the left. From there it went down a ways past two larger rooms on the right, each of the rooms contained three biers. They were quick to loot the gold and gems within the drawers of the six biers before continuing on. Then they followed the passage until it turned back to the left once more.

  After the turn, they found two more two-bier rooms on the right and the opening to the large room with the six biers and three columns they had went through earlier on their left. Once they went through the two-bier rooms, they continued down the passage until it turned once more to the left.

  The main passage had formed a square, with the six-bier room that had the three columns running through it, as its center. After they rounded the fourth corner of the square, they came across another set of stairs descending down into darkness.

  “What do you say we go up and have lunch before we see what’s down there?” suggested Chad. Then in the silence the others heard his stomach give out with a loud growl.

  “Good idea,” agreed Riyan. “We all could use a bite to eat and some fresh air.” They headed back
up to the uppermost level and gathered what they would need for lunch. Then they went topside and cleared the mustiness from their lungs with the fresh summer air while they ate.

  Chapter Nine

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