Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1

by Brian S. Pratt

  In the morning, Chad and Riyan slept late as the rigors of the past few days had definitely taken their toll. When they finally arose, the sun had already been up for a couple hours. Taking their packs with them, they headed downstairs and were soon enjoying a breakfast of chicken and eggs.

  Halfway through their meal Riyan flagged down the serving lady. “Yes?” she asked as she approached their table.

  “I was wondering if you could direct us to Dulcet Street?” he said.

  She pointed out the window. “There it is.”

  “You mean it runs right in front of here?” he asked.

  Nodding her head, the lady replied, “That’s right.”

  “Thank you,” Riyan said with a smile. She flashed him a smile too before returning to her work.

  Once they finished eating, they located the lady who gave them their room key the night before and made their way over to her. “Excuse me ma’am,” Riyan said.

  She looked up from making a notation in a book and gave them a friendly smile. “Are you leaving this morning?” she asked.

  “Afraid so,” he replied. After returning the key to her, he said, “We have business in town before we head out. I was wondering if it would be alright for us to leave our horse in your stable for a couple hours?”

  “Sure,” she said. “We’re not full and I don’t think it will be a problem.”

  “Thank you,” Chad said to her.

  “You’re most welcome,” came the reply. “If you ever find yourselves in Wardean again, I hope you choose to stay here.”

  Riyan grinned and nodded. “We will.”

  Turning away from her, they made their way out into the street. They looked up one way then down another, both directions were busy and crowded. “Which way?” Chad asked.

  Shrugging, Riyan said, “One way’s as good as another.” So stepping out, they headed down to their left and entered the throng on the streets.

  “Pretty crowded here,” commented Chad.

  “I know,” Riyan said just as he was bumped into by a lady going the other way. After traveling down four blocks with no luck, they finally asked directions of a local and were soon to realize they had been going in the wrong direction.

  Turning around, they worked their way back through the mass of people on the street. They passed by the Silent Shepherd and after another three blocks, the building they were told by the man contained Thyrr’s shop came into view. More than thankful to leave the river of people on the street behind, they stepped up to the door and entered.

  Inside they found a typical chandler’s shop selling a variety of goods people would find useful. A man was situated behind a counter going over a ledger while a woman was looking through bolts of fabric. The man looked up as they entered and gave them a once over before returning to his ledger.

  “That must be Thyrr,” stated Chad.

  “You think?” asked Riyan. He then moved towards the man who again looked up and noticed them crossing the shop. Closing the ledger, he grinned them a welcome.

  “Can I help you gentlemen?” he asked.

  Riyan nodded and set his pack on the counter. “Are you Thyrr?” he asked.

  “That’s right,” the man affirmed.

  He then opened his pack and said, “A friend sent me.” Pulling forth the dart, he laid it on the counter between them.

  Thyrr glanced to the lady and said in a hushed tone, “Put that away!”

  Riyan quickly returned the dart to his pack.

  Nodding over to a table set against the wall at the back of the store, he said, “Have a seat. I’ll be with you when I can.” He then nodded his head meaningfully towards the lady.

  Understanding what he meant, Riyan and Chad moved over to the table and took their seats. The table was out of the direct view of the door, but they could see the area of the store where the lady was looking through the fabric. They waited for what must have been over ten minutes before she finally settled on the cloth she wanted. Once she paid for it and had left the store, Thyrr came over to the table.

  “Sorry about that,” he said, “can’t be too careful you know.”

  “We understand,” replied Riyan.

  “What do you have?” he asked.

  Opening his pack, Riyan pulled out several of the silver coins and showed them to him. “Our friend said you might be able to take these off our hands for a fair price,” he said.

  “How is he?” Thyrr asked. “Haven’t seen him for some time.”

  “He’s well,” Chad said.

  “Good, good.” Thyrr took one of the coins and closely examined it. “I haven’t run across these for some time.”

  Surprised, Riyan asked, “You’ve seen them before?”

  Thyrr turned his attention back to the friends and nodded. “They turn up from time to time,” he replied. “It’s been almost thirty years now since the last person found a cache of these. His were mostly copper though.”

  “Are they worth much?” Chad asked expectantly.

  “Oh yes,” he replied. “How many do you have?”

  “Three hundred and seventy of the silver,” Riyan told him. He nodded to Chad who produced the gold chain. “We also have this gold chain and several gems too.”

  “Must have found the King’s Horde,” Thyrr joked.

  “King’s Horde?” asked Chad.

  “You two have never heard the story of the King’s Horde?” he asked.

  They both shook their heads.

  “Supposedly there’s this horde of treasure buried in the mountains hereabouts that’s guarded by an army of the dead,” he explained. Both Chad and Riyan glanced at one another at mention of the army of the dead. The corpses lying on the biers in The Crypt could be construed as just that.

  “You see, long ago before the people who now live here arrived from the east, there existed a kingdom of men,” he explained. “No one knows what happened to them or who they were.” He held up the coin. “But these have been found all over the place among ruins of that lost kingdom.”

  “Really?” asked Riyan. It was all he could do to keep his growing excitement out of his voice.

  “Really,” Thyrr acknowledged. “Treasure hunters have been trying to locate this horde for hundreds of years but its hiding place has remained secret. No one hardly looks for it anymore.” He then glanced at them. “The last major search was sparked thirty years ago when that last cache of these coins I mentioned were found.”

  Riyan and Chad glanced to each other again. The last thing they wanted was for others to learn of what they found. Two young men from a sleepy town such as Quillim would easily be swept aside by those with more experience, and lethal determination.

  “Now, seeing as how you and I have a mutual friend, I’ll try to keep the knowledge of where I got them quiet,” he explained. “But keep in mind, there will come a time when the fact that you found three hundred and seventy of the King’s silver coins will come to light.”

  He turned his full attention to the two young men and asked, “Did you find the King’s Horde?”

  Riyan gulped under the intensity of that glare. He shook his head and lied, “No. We found these in an old chest dug out of a hill.” Beside him, Chad nodded agreement.

  “Hmmm,” he stated. Then his gaze turned back to the packs. “Let me see the gems.”

  He and Chad then removed the gems and laid them out on the table before him. He picked them up one by one and closely examined each in turn. Then he took the gold chain and gave it a once over as well.

  “I’ll give you fifty golds for the lot,” he said. “And that’s only because we have a mutual friend.”

  “Fifty?” asked Riyan, shocked that he would be offered so much.

  “Alright then,” Thyrr said, “fifty five. But you’ll not get one more copper from me.”

  “Deal!” blurted out Chad before Thyrr came to his senses.

  He began going through the packs and stacking the silver coins on the table. “Just have to make sur
e there are in fact the number of coins here you claimed,” he explained.

  So they waited while he counted. When he was satisfied that the count matched what they had claimed, he grabbed a box off a nearby shelf and scraped the coins, gems and the golden necklace into it.

  Once the box was closed, he took a key out from his pocket and locked it. “I’ll be but a second,” he told them. He left the locked box containing the coins on the table as he turned around and went through the door into the back of the store. He returned a moment later with a small, bulging sack. After a quick glance around his store to make sure no one had entered while he had been in the back, he emptied the contents of the sack onto the table.

  Riyan and Chad’s eyes grew wide as they watched the golden sovereigns spilling from the mouth of the sack. Riyan’s heart actually skipped a beat and his breath caught in his throat, so intense was the emotion he felt.

  “Go ahead and count them,” Thyrr said. “And hurry before someone comes in.”

  With trembling hands Riyan and Chad began stacking the coins into piles of five for easy counting. Twice the trembling of Chad’s hands caused a stack of coins to topple before they finally had eleven stacks of five lined up neatly before them.

  Never before had either one of them seen such a fortune. They could work all their lives as a shepherd or miller and not see that much wealth at one time. “The…” began Riyan but then had to clear his throat as he could barely speak. “The count is good.”

  “Excellent,” Thyrr said with a grin. When the two lads made no move to put the gold away and just kept staring at it, he added, “You better put that away before someone sees it.”

  “Yeah,” said Riyan as the gold’s spell was broken. He and Chad picked up the coins and refilled the sack before Riyan set it inside his pack.

  “Nice to have done business with you,” Thyrr said. “If you see your friend again, tell him not to be such a stranger.”

  “We will,” Chad assured him.

  As he and Riyan got to their feet, Riyan said, “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he replied. He stood there with his hand resting on the chest as the two friends left the table.

  Chad led the way as they made their way to the front door and passed through into the street. “Can you believe…” he started to say before Riyan cut him off.

  “Let’s not talk about it out here,” he said. “Too many ears may be listening.” Chad glanced around and nodded.

  “On to the apothecary and then we can head home,” Riyan said.

  The directions Glia had given them were pretty straight forward and it took them little time in finding the place. When they opened the door to enter, a strong odor wafted out. Riyan’s nose wrinkled as it enveloped them, but he couldn’t decide if it was unpleasant or not. Just the strangeness of it put him off.

  Dark and gloomy was the best way to describe Gyman’s establishment. The few windows the place had were occluded by grime or blocked by objects hanging from the ceiling. Shelves lined the walls holding the most unusual items either of them had ever seen. Roots, leaves, branches; all things botanical were grouped together in an area that took up almost a third of the store. One area had bones of varying sizes from what had to have been all sorts of creatures. The rest of the place contained items ranging from rocks to dust and one wall contained large bottles containing liquids of varying color.

  “How may I help you?”

  Chad jumped when the voice came from just behind him.

  They turned to find a little old man who couldn’t have been more than four feet tall. His features were gnarled and his back was bent. Eyes peered keenly at them from beneath bushy eyebrows. His head was devoid of all hair but for a single tuft of white sticking up several inches from the top of his head.

  “Are you Gyman?” Ryan asked.

  “That I am,” he replied. The way he stood there motionless as he stared at them gave them both the creeps.

  “A friend of ours asked us to stop by while we were in Wardean,” he explained. Reaching into his pack, he pulled out Glia’s list. “This is what she wanted.”

  The old man stared at the list in his hand but made no move to take it. Riyan glanced to Chad just as Gyman asked, “What was the name of your friend?”

  “Glia,” replied Chad. “She’s an old lady that lives near us.”

  “Ah yes,” he stated with an ever so slight nod of his head. He then reached up and took the list from Riyan. “Wait here and don’t touch anything,” he said. Taking one step away, he paused and then glanced back at them, “Some of the things here don’t like to be bothered.”

  The two young men watched him as he moved away deeper into the store. “What do you suppose he meant by that?” Chad asked quietly.

  “I don’t know,” replied Riyan in a similar hushed voice. Glancing around he wondered what could possibly be in here that wouldn’t like to be bothered.

  They stood there for almost ten minutes, all the while fearing to move, before Gyman made his appearance. The little, gnarled old man clutched a small package in one of his hands. Riyan removed the two gems that Glia had given them for the items and held them out.

  The old man came to a stop and moved his face close to his hand. He took several moments to examine the gems as they lay in his hand before reaching out and taking them. “Here,” he said as he handed the package to Riyan. “Tell her I was able to accommodate her wishes.”

  “We will,” Riyan assured him. Putting the package in his pack, he said, “Thank you,” then he and Chad turned for the door. As he opened the door and was about to leave, he glanced back inside only to find Gyman was no longer anywhere to be seen. Turning back, he passed through the door and entered the street.

  “That was creepy,” he commented to Chad as they headed back to the inn to retrieve their horse.

  “You could say that again,” he replied. “I never saw anyone act like that before.”

  “Me either. Let’s get out of here and go home.”

  “You got it,” agreed Chad.

  They had moved down the street when Chad suddenly remembered that Glia had said they could keep the change. But Gyman didn’t give them any and neither one desired to enter Gyman’s Apothecary again, even if they could have gained a few coins for the effort. So they resumed their trek back to the inn.

  Back at the Silent Shepherd, they saddled their horse and were soon on their way home. By the position of the sun, it was likely they weren’t going to make it back before dark.

  When Bart had awoken earlier this morning, more of his strength had returned. Not nearly to the degree that he had before being struck down in The Crypt, but at least he no longer needed the aid of Riyan’s staff to walk around.

  He spent the early morning hours lying in bed. At one point he went over to the closet and took the piece of the golden key from out of his pack and carried it back to the bed. There he examined it closely.

  The sigils on the one side that had lined up with the sigils inscribed on the wall in the room at the deepest point of The Crypt, made no sense to him. Despite studying them at length, he learned nothing from them.

  On the other side, however, the map was very clear. Not a complete map to be sure, he figured it would take combining this section of the circular key with the others to achieve that. What this one did show was a mountain range running along the bottom. Just to the north of the mountain range was a lake that had a river connecting it to another, smaller lake further to the north with markings next to it. After careful examination, he came to the conclusion that the markings next to the smaller lake represented a city or town of some kind.

  Knock! Knock!

  The sound of someone knocking on the front door echoed through the house. Suddenly alarmed, he leaped from the bed and quickly secreted the piece of the key back within his pack. Removing two of his darts, he moved to the bedroom door and cracked it open.

  Peering out, he saw Riyan’s mother at the door talking to someone. Fr
om his position in the bedroom, he wasn’t able to overhear very well what was being said. He was about to leave the room and go out to the front room when Riyan’s mother stepped back and allowed Freya to enter.

  He was stunned to see Freya. She was literally the last person he expected. Realizing there was no immediate threat, he placed the darts back into the rolled leather pack that held all of his darts. Then he returned to the door and peered out through the crack between the door and the door jamb. Listening carefully, he tried to hear what was being said.

  “…didn’t know who else to come to,” Freya said. By the tone of her voice, she was obviously distraught. “I don’t want to marry Rupert, he doesn’t even like me.”

  “Are you so sure?” Kaitlyn asked.

  “Yes,” replied Freya. “You sort of know about things like that.”

  Kaitlyn nodded. “I don’t know what I can do to help. This is between your family and Rupert’s.”

  “I know,” Freya told her. “Every one of my friends thinks he’s a great catch. Wealth and a good standing in the community, but I don’t care for that. I would rather be some shepherd’s wife living in squalor than as Rupert’s and live in wealth.” Then her eyes widened and she stammered, “I…I didn’t mean to imply…”

  Kaitlyn smiled. “I understand,” she assured her.

  “I heard Riyan was out of town and thought this would be a good time to talk with someone who understands.” Freya cast her eyes down before saying, “My father has forbidden me to see or talk with Riyan until after the wedding.”

  “I know, Riyan told me,” she replied. “This marriage is going to be hard on you, Riyan too.” Placing her hand under Freya’s chin, she raised her face until it looked into hers. She could see the tracks the tears were making as they coursed down her cheeks. “Riyan holds no animosity towards you. In fact I do believe that he will still be a stalwart friend of yours until the end of his days.”

  “I’m glad,” Freya said through the emotion constricting her throat. “I wouldn’t want to lose him.”

  “You won’t,” Kaitlyn assured her. “I’ll be here for you too.” Putting her arms around the girl, she held Freya as the sobs began wracking her body. With tears in her own eyes, she patted the girl’s back and comforted her until the sobbing quieted.

  “When will the wedding be?” Riyan’s mother asked.

  A few more sniffles then Freya raised her head from off Kaitlyn’s shoulder. “Fortunately custom is on my side there,” she replied. “As the bride, I get to set the date.”

  “And?” Kaitlyn prompted.

  From his position where he’s eavesdropping behind the bedroom door, Bart held his breath.

  “As you know, custom allows me to set the date anywhere from three months to a year from the day the betrothal is finalized,” she explained. “So I set it one year away.”

  Kaitlyn nodded, “I can understand your willingness to put this off for as long as possible.”

  “I know,” she replied. “But my father is pressuring me to change it for an earlier time. He wants it done and settled.” Not to mention the fact that the longer the engagement lasts, the more the bride tells the community how she feels about the marriage. To set it a year away is practically a slap in Rupert’s face.

  “As do all fathers.” A sad smile came to her as her memory went back to the time when her own father urged her to marry Riyan’s father. She was dead set against it, as she was sure all brides were who were not allowed to pick their own groom, and so had set the date as far out as possible. As it turned out, her father made a much better match for her than she had ever dreamed could be possible. She had later regretted the shame she had put her husband through during that time.

  As Bart closed the door, Freya and Riyan’s mother began talking about things that held very little interest for him. He had heard what he wanted. A year! Riyan had a year unless her father’s urging changed her mind, but with the way she felt about Rupert, that was as unlikely to happen as Bart to grow a second head.

  He’ll see what Riyan plans to do before he makes any decisions about leaving Quillim and starting a new life elsewhere. For if one of those seeking him has already discovered him here, then more are likely to follow, it’s only a matter of time. The last thing he wants to do is bring his troubles into the lives of the friends he made here.

  Lying back on the bed, his mind wandered to what Chad and Riyan were doing now.

  Chapter Thirteen

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