Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1

by Brian S. Pratt

  Kevik still sat on the narrow ledge that he’s been sitting on now for over an hour. The rivulet that ran through the opening has soaked him pretty good. Though he was already cold with teeth chattering, he still hadn’t worked up the courage to enter the frigid water of the river.

  How much longer could he afford to sit here? Every minute sapped that much more warmth and energy from his body. If he waited much longer, he won’t have the strength to keep his head above the water once he makes his move.

  So he sat there cold, miserable, and alone. All the sadness at the loss of his master welled to the surface again. He put his head on his knees as the strong emotions got the best of him, and sobbed.

  “Keep it away from the rocks!”

  His head jerked up as he looked up the river to where the voice came from. A light could be seen drawing closer.

  “Paddle man!” he heard Chad yell. “If it hits the rocks it’ll bust up!”

  With hope rekindled, he climbed to his feet just as the source of the light came into view. He saw the glow was from a lantern floating along the far side of the water. Three forms moved upon the water and it took him only a split second to recognize his former comrades. They looked to be riding some kind of raft.

  “Riyan!” he yelled and began waving his arms.

  The person in the center of the raft, who looked to be Bart, turned and saw him there on his precarious ledge. “Kevik!” Bart yelled. The other two turned to see him and his bobbing orb.

  “Riyan!” Chad yelled, “The rocks!”

  Kevik watched as Riyan turned onto his back and used his feet to keep the current from bashing the raft onto the rocky wall. His feet kicked out at the wall in an attempt to push the raft back into the river. Then Kevik saw Bart take something and begin twirling it over his head.

  “Your goo spell!” Bart yelled as the object he had been twirling suddenly sailed towards him.

  Kevik saw three packs that were tied together suddenly flying through the air in his direction. He quickly understood Bart’s plan and when they came close, covered them in the sticky goo.

  Splat!

  The goo coated packs struck the wall not two feet downstream from him and stuck. Bart hung onto the rope as the current used the packs attached to the wall as a fulcrum. When the rope grew taut in Bart’s hands, their raft was pulled from the far side of the river and began to draw close to the other.

  “Riyan, Chad,” Bart hollered. “Get to the other side or we’re going to hit.”

  They saw the wall of the channel the river flowed through approaching and moved into position. Just as Riyan had done previously, they moved to the edge approaching the wall and laid on their backs. When the raft was about to hit, they extended their feet to act as shock absorbers. The current swept the raft to the wall but their feet provided enough cushioning to keep it from being smashed apart.

  At that point the tension of the rope increased twofold and the rope was almost torn from Bart’s hand. He tried to pull the raft closer to Kevik, but the current was too strong. He saw Kevik standing there, his annoying bobbing sphere dancing around him.

  “You’re going to have to come to us!” he hollered. “I can’t hold this much longer.”

  Kevik realized that if he was to join them he would have to do it himself. So he put the pack across his back and made ready to enter the water. “Hurry!” he heard Bart grunt. With one hand on the rope attached to the packs, and another holding his master’s staff, he entered the water.

  Immediately, the current began pulling him downriver and he lost his balance. He gripped the rope with his one hand while his other tried to retain hold of the staff. At one point his head went under. When he broke the surface again, he heard Bart yelling, “…the staff!”

  “What?” he hollered back but then the water sucked him under once more. Still holding onto the rope and the staff he managed to get his head back above water.

  “…go of the staff!” he heard when he broke the surface. Then he realized Bart was trying to say, ‘Let go of the staff’. But this was his master’s staff, given to him just before he died. How could he willingly let it go?

  Then the water sucked him down a third time and it was all he could do to simply get back to the surface. That was when he realized that if he didn’t let go, he wouldn’t reach the raft. Against the pull of the current, he was going to need both hands on the rope. “Forgive me master,” he said as he let go of the staff and gripped the rope with both hands.

  As the staff began floating away, he started working his way down the rope to the raft. He could hear Bart grunting as he worked to keep the current from taking the raft. Moving as fast as he could, he finally reached the raft.

  “Get on,” said Bart. “But be careful, this wood isn’t going to hold under your full weight.”

  Nodding understanding, Kevik placed both hands on the raft and pulled himself up.

  Crack!

  His left hand broke one of the boards and the river just about sucked him away when his grip on the raft faltered. Panic set in until both hands were once again holding onto the raft. Then he calmed himself by a sheer force of will and began to climb on board once more.

  A little slower this time, he inched his way on top until all but his lower legs were still in the water.

  “Cancel the spell!” Bart yelled at him.

  Mumbling the words, Kevik dispelled the goo holding the packs to the wall. Then he felt the current begin dragging the raft downriver once more. “Thanks,” he said to them.

  “Later,” Bart said as he hauled the packs back onto the raft. “Keep your eyes open for any possible rocks or anything else we may run into.

  “Right,” Kevik said. He remained where he was and turned onto his back like the others. He scanned for possible danger spots while Chad and Riyan continued working to keep the raft from striking the wall.

  For several minutes the current carried them on until something from the opposite side of the river entered the lantern’s light and caught his attention. It looked like a wooden dock. “Bart!” he yelled then directed Bart’s attention to the dock.

  Bart nodded and said, “We need to get to it!” He sat up on the makeshift raft and started twirling the three waterlogged packs over his head.

  Crack! Snap!

  Beneath him he could feel and hear the planks about to give way. Ignoring the aged wood’s warning, he said to Kevik, “Goo spell.” Then with a final impetus, he launched the packs toward the approaching dock.

  When the packs reached halfway there, Kevik cast his spell. The packs hit the wall with a splat a little upstream of the dock. Then just like before, the river used it as a fulcrum and swung the raft towards the dock’s side of the river.

  Chad and Riyan scrambled to the other side of the raft and reached it a second before the raft struck the wall. Using their legs, they kept the raft a safe distance away.

  “Kevik,” Bart said. “You’re going to have to help me to pull the raft closer.” They were now ten feet downriver of the dock.

  Crack!

  The wood beneath Bart gave out with another threatening crack as the pressure he was exerting against the raft to prevent the river from taking it was now being focused on the board his feet were braced against. Kevik moved over until he was in position and grabbed the rope. Then between both of them, they slowly brought the raft to the dockside.

  “Okay Kevik,” Bart said. “Get on the dock. But be careful, it may not hold.”

  Nodding, Kevik began moving across the raft to the edge of the dock.

  Crack!

  “And hurry!” Bart saw the board he had his feet braced against begin to come apart. “Just hold for a little bit longer,” he said softly to the board. Once Kevik made it onto the dock, he told Riyan to go next.

  Riyan grabbed the lantern then worked his way from the raft to the dock. By this time, Kevik had already made it to the stone landing on the other side. Once Riyan was on the dock and began working his way to the land
ing, it was Chad’s turn.

  “But it’s going to hit against the wall!” Chad hollered to Bart. His feet even now were pressed against the side of the channel as he worked to maintain the foot of space between the raft and the wall.

  “I know!” Bart replied. “Just get on the dock.”

  No sooner did Chad remove his feet and begin moving along the raft to the dockside than the current began banging the side of the raft into the wall. They could hear the wood begin splintering and even before he reached the dock, one of the rear planks broke off and was carried away by the current.

  Bart continued holding the rope, the strain on his arms becoming quite bad. Between what he did when Kevik joined them and what he’s doing here, his muscles were a knotted mass of pain. Frankly, he’s surprised he’s been able to hold this for as long as he has.

  He watched Chad’s progress and when he saw him leave the raft and make the dock, he sighed with relief.

  Crack!

  A large chunk of the raft behind him splintered off after striking the wall hard. He glanced back and saw that there was only one more plank behind him. The loss of that section of the raft slightly eased the pressure being exerted on his arms.

  Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw Riyan moving across the wooden dock towards the rope in an attempt to help him. “Riyan, stop!” he yelled. The last thing he wanted was for the situation to worsen by Riyan breaking through the aged wood and falling into the river.

  Riyan paused as he turned to Bart. Then a loud cracking was heard and Riyan’s left foot suddenly broke through. Chad was quick to his side and lent him a hand back onto the stone landing. The three of them turned their gaze to where Bart sat upon the raft. His feet were braced against the wood and he was holding the rope for all he was worth.

  Bart lifted a foot from where it was braced against the raft and felt the raft subtly shift under him. He moved the foot closer to the end of the raft, then did the same with the other. Only two more planks separated him from the edge of the raft. One by one, he worked his way to the edge.

  Crack! Snap!

  All of a sudden the raft disintegrated and he was in the water. He held onto the rope as the current dragged him under. His pack across his back didn’t help matters but he wasn’t about to let that go, it held his lockpicks. Death would take him before he willingly gave them up.

  So holding onto the rope with one hand, he used his other to bring him back to the surface. “Grab my hand!” he heard Riyan holler to him when his head broke through. Looking up, he saw Riyan at the edge of the dock, reaching out his hand.

  He tried to grab the hand but the current pulled him under once more. When he finally made it back to the surface, Riyan’s hand was still outstretched. Again he tried to reach it, and this time Riyan managed to grab his hand and began pulling him to the dock.

  Once he had both hands holding onto the dock, he handed the rope to Riyan. “Thanks,” he said.

  “Don’t thank me until you’re safely on the landing,” Riyan said. He then took hold of the back of Bart’s pack and helped him up.

  Crack!

  The wood beneath them was beginning to give way. “Move!” they heard Chad yell. Realizing they didn’t have much time, Riyan and Bart scrambled for the landing.

  Snap! Crack!

  The dock disintegrated under them. Riyan was the first to make the landing and just as Bart reached it, the dock completely collapsed into the river. Bart cried out as he lost his grip and felt his feet entering the river.

  Kevik dove for him and grabbed his arm before the current could drag him away. Then with Chad and Riyan’s help, he pulled Bart onto the landing.

  He laid there a moment panting, barely having the strength to move. Riyan came and knelt down by his side. “Guess what?” he asked.

  “What?” Bart replied. His heart had finally quit racing and his muscles began to quiet their protesting.

  Riyan pointed behind him to the far side of the landing and grinned. “Another passage.”

  “Let me have some rest first,” Bart told him.

  “No problem there,” he said. “We need to dry out anyway before we all catch our death.” Getting up, he had Chad help him in tearing apart the remnants of the pier. Little of it remained though, most of it was now on its way down the river. At least there was enough left that they could build a fire.

  Kevik came and sat by Bart while the other two worked at collecting the wood. “Thank you for taking the time to rescue me,” he said.

  “That’s alright,” Bart replied. “Couldn’t very well leave you there all alone.” He saw a bit of sadness in Kevik’s eyes and said, “Sorry about your staff.”

  Kevik shrugged. “I’m sure Allar would have understood,” he said.

  A pile of wood was beginning to grow in the middle of the landing as Riyan and Chad continued tearing chunks and pieces from the remaining sections of planks and the pilings. When they figured they had enough, Riyan stacked the smaller, driest bits in a loose pile. Then he put one of the smaller pieces in the flame of the lantern until it began to burn. Once it had caught and didn’t look like it was going to go out, he placed it beneath the stack. It took him three separate attempts before the pile of wood began to burn on its own.

  Slowly at first they added more wood to the flames until they had a roaring fire going on the landing. By this time some of Bart’s energy had returned and he sat up and scooted closer to get warm. The four comrades sat in the fire’s warm glow as they stripped down to their small clothes and began drying their things out.

  “Our food’s ruined,” announced Chad. He pulled a rather nasty looking mess from out of his pack that had once been dried bread and other rations, including half a loaf of stale bread. The only thing that had survived was a few strips of dried beef. He went to the edge of the water and washed away the moist rations that had adhered to the meat. After that he distributed them evenly among the four of them.

  “Anyone else have anything?” Bart asked. Two more strips of beef were discovered in Riyan’s pack. Other than that, nothing was salvageable.

  “Once we get out of here food won’t be that much of a problem,” Riyan said as he patted his sling.

  “But getting out of here will,” Chad said. Then he pointed over to the mouth of the passage. “What do we do if that passage doesn’t lead anywhere?”

  “Get back in the water and swim,” replied Bart matter-of-factly.

  None of them relished that possibility. They didn’t even have the pier this time to turn into a makeshift raft, the bulk of it has already disappeared downstream. What was left was barely enough to keep their fire going.

  “Anyone look into it yet?” Bart asked indicating the passage.

  “Just peeked in through the entrance,” Riyan said. “It continued further than what the lantern’s light revealed.”

  Bart nodded. Then he asked Kevik what happened to him after he fell down the shaft. For the next hour they heard his tale and in turn told of what they had gone through and what they found. They showed him the various items they took from the treasure room. He was especially interested in the wand.

  “Do you know what it does?” asked Riyan.

  “No,” he admitted. “And I’m not about ready to find out either.” He glanced to the others before continuing. “I’m about used up, magically speaking. I’ve done more magic since I’ve met you than I did the month prior to our meeting.”

  “Hopefully you won’t be called on to do any more for awhile,” Bart said.

  “That would be good,” he replied. “I need a break.”

  When half of their wood supply had been consumed, they banked the fire and put their semi dried clothes back on. Then they made ready to explore the passage. “Think the key could be down here?” Riyan asked Bart.

  Shrugging, he said, “Maybe.”

  Bart took the lead. Swinging his mostly dry pack onto his back, he picked up the lantern and moved to the passage. His muscles still felt the effect
s of what he had put them through, but a least they no longer constantly complained. They just gave off with a dull ache now and then, along with a feeling of tiredness.

  He entered the passage and found that it was constructed similar to the ones above. It extended forward easily forty feet before turning to the right. Then another ten feet before they came to the top of a stairway leading down.

  Bart followed the steps down with the others right behind. At the bottom, the steps ended at another passage which extended for a short ways before ending at a plain room. It was twice as wide as it was long. No ornamentation, no engravings, nothing. Simply bare rock. The only thing in the room was a plain, four foot marble pedestal situated in the center of the room. When they came close to it, they saw that the top of the pedestal bore the insignia that was engraved on all the coins.

  “Well isn’t this just lovely,” Riyan commented. “Someone beat us to it.”

  “Damn!” exclaimed Chad.

  “Looks like they took it with them when they fled here,” observed Bart. “Which would make sense.”

  “But where would they have taken it?” Riyan asked him.

  Bart shrugged. He glanced around the room another time then began moving around the pedestal.

  “You think there could be a secret compartment?” Riyan asked hopefully.

  “I doubt it,” he replied. “This has all the look of where it would have rested.” He had almost completed his circuit of the pedestal when the floor opened up beneath him. “Damn!” he cried out as he reached out. His left hand grasped hold of the opening’s edge and the sudden halt of his fall knocked the lantern from out of his other hand. Just as he brought his right hand up to join his left in hanging on, the lantern smashed against the bottom of the shaft.

  The others were right there a second later and helped him back up out of the pit. They looked down at the bottom a good thirty feet below where their sole lantern lay busted. The base of the lantern had ruptured when it hit and burning oil covered most of the ground down there.

  “Now what?” Chad asked. Then he groaned as Kevik’s bobbing sphere appeared and began bobbing about.

  “It’s better than the dark,” Riyan said.

  “Not by much,” replied Chad.

  Bart stared down at the flames. He sighed and was about to turn away when something caught his eye. At first he wasn’t exactly sure what it was, only that something was other than it should be. Then he finally figured it out. One side of the pit at the bottom near the flames was darker than the others. It could be a passage.

  “Well, well, well,” he said with a grin.

  “What?” asked Riyan as he and the others came to see what he was talking about.

  Bart directed their gaze to the bottom of the shaft. “Look there to the right, “he said. “I think that’s a passage.”

  “A passage?” asked Chad. “Isn’t that sort of a dumb place for one?”

  Bart shook his head. “Actually I think it’s a pretty ingenious place for one,” he countered. “If the lantern hadn’t dropped, we never would have suspected it was there.” Then he turned to Riyan. “And what would we have done then?”

  “Left thinking that the key was gone?” he guessed.

  “Precisely!” he exclaimed. “I would bet every bit of treasure we have found so far that the key lies somewhere down that passage.”

  “But how are we to get down there?” asked Kevik. “It’s pretty far.”

  “Simple,” explained Bart. “If you’re up for one more of your goo spells you could use it to adhere the end of the rope up here while we climb down.” He looked to Kevik until he nodded that he could. “Excellent. How long does it last?”

  “Up to an hour,” he said, “if I don’t dispel it first.”

  “That should give us enough time,” he said. Then he began preparing his rope. “You three may wish to leave your packs up here,” he told them. “Make it easier for you to shinny down the rope.”

  They began taking off their packs and setting them by the base of the pedestal. When Kevik had his off, he turned to find Bart ready with the rope. He had placed its end at the edge of the pit directly over the opening of the passage below. The end of the rope rested a foot from the edge. “Just cast it there,” Bart told him as he pointed to the end of the rope.

  Kevik nodded and cast his spell. A green globule appeared atop the rope and quickly adhered it to the stone. By the time the goo finished settling, some of it had oozed over the edge of the pit.

  Bart tugged the rope hard but the goo wouldn’t release it. “Good enough,” he said. “I’ll go down first. Once I’m there I’ll holler up and then you follow one at a time.” The others nodded. He then went to the edge of the pit and began lowering himself over the edge. Before he disappeared out of sight, he pointed to where the green goo oozed over the side, “Be careful of that. You get stuck and you may have to stay there until we’re done.” Then he began descending the rope quickly.

  The smoke in the shaft was annoying but not overwhelming as the lantern oil burned below. He had to make sure that when he landed at the bottom that he didn’t settle onto a burning patch. Foot by foot he continued his descent. When he neared the bottom, he could feel the heat from the flames.

  Glancing down, he saw the opening just below him and the pool of burning oil on the floor before it. He came up with an idea. Moving to the side of the opening, he worked his way down a little further. Then just before he reached the floor, he kicked against the wall with his feet. Angling slightly over towards the opening, he swung outward and then came back into the mouth of the passage. Once past the pool of burning oil, he came to land a good foot from the edge of the flames.

  He moved back as far as he could and stuck his head out of the passage. “I’m down,” he hollered back up to the others.

  At the top of the shaft, the others looked at each other. “Who’s next?” Chad asked.

  When no one else volunteered, Riyan said, “I’ll go. Then you Kevik.” When Kevik nodded, Riyan moved to the edge of the pit and grabbed the rope. Edging ever so gently over the side, he made sure to avoid coming in contact with the green goo. Then he began entering the pit. He had a few heart stopping moments before he reached the passage opening. Once there, Bart grabbed hold of him and helped him in avoiding the flames.

  Next came Kevik and then Chad. Once they were all down, Kevik’s bobbing sphere appeared among them. “Stay close,” Bart told him as he took the lead. The passage extended straight away from the pit for over a hundred feet before coming to a room very similar to the one with the pedestal. Only this time there wasn’t a pedestal. Instead there were three doors set in the far wall about three feet apart.

  When Riyan saw the doors he asked, “I take it only one door will open to where we want to go?”

  “That’s the way I would figure it,” replied Bart. “The other two I’m sure will be trapped in some way.”

  “Joy,” groaned Chad.

  To Riyan and Chad, Bart said, “You two wait out in the passage.”

  “What about me?” asked Kevik.

  “I need your light so you’re staying with me,” he explained.

  Kevik did not like the sound of that. “Very well,” he replied with little enthusiasm.

  With Kevik’s light bouncing about, Bart moved to the doors and began an examination of each. He fervently hoped that they would give him some indication which one would be safe to open. But, after ten minutes of fruitless searching, he came up with nothing.

  “Guess we’ll just have to open them and hope for the best,” he said.

  “Do you think that’s wise?” asked Kevik.

  “Not in the least,” Bart replied. “Which one should we open first?”

  Kevik looked at him in shock. “You want me to pick?”

  “Sure,” Bart said with a grin. “I can’t tell which one so your guess is as good as any.”

  He glanced over to Riyan and Chad but they were no help. Turning back to Bart he said,
“The one on the left?”

  “Left it is,” said Bart. He then moved to the left door and grabbed the handle. Turning it ever so slowly, he braced himself to dart backward if things went bad. When nothing happened, he slowly pulled the door open.

  As the door opened, they began to hear a grinding noise coming from the other side. He glanced to the others questioningly then pulled the door all the way open. The door opened onto a wall of stone that was beginning to sink into the ground.

  “Could be opening the way to the key,” suggested Riyan.

  Bart didn’t think so but kept his opinion to himself. Then all of a sudden, drops of water appeared at the top of the door. Then the drops became drips that steadily increased in volume and speed.

  “Oh my god!” Bart yelled as he shut the door quickly. “It’s opening up a conduit for the river to enter.” He then motioned for Riyan and Chad to come forward. “You two hold this door,” he said. “If you don’t, we’ll all drown.”

  They came and put their shoulders against it as Bart turned to the other two doors. He didn’t think it would be the middle one as it was in close proximity to the water trap. So he tried the door on the right. It was locked. He placed his pack on the ground and quickly removed his picks. That’s when he noticed water beginning to pool on the floor. He glanced to the door Riyan and Chad were holding and saw a steady stream of water seeping in through the cracks all around the door.

  “Can you hold it?” he asked. Riyan nodded but he could see that he and Chad were under great strain in holding the door closed. Returning to the locked door, he quickly removed his two picks and set to work on the lock. In a matter of seconds he had it opened.

  He replaced his picks in the rolled leather and put the rolled leather back in his pack. Then he pulled the door quickly open. On the other side was another long passage extending away.

  “Kevik, come with me,” he said. Then to Riyan and Chad he added, “I’ll be back.” Riyan only nodded. With Kevik following along behind, he practically flew down the passage as he knew time was rapidly running out.

  The passage went for over a hundred feet before ending abruptly at a sigil inscribed wall. He was quick to recognize it as identical in nature to what they had found at the bottom of The Crypt. The only difference was that in the middle of the sigils were four separate, indented spaces. Each of the indented spaces was curved and sank three inches into the wall with a two inch space separating it from its neighbors. Looking at the spaces together, they appeared to form a circle.

  “What is that?” Kevik asked.

  Bart turned to looked at him. “It’s what we came here for.” He examined the spaces more closely. Upon the stone within the backs of the spaces were engravings. When he had Kevik come closer so his bobbing sphere could illuminate them better, he discovered that the engravings were of the four coats of arms that they had seen at the bottom of the crypt. The dragon-sword, the two headed falcon, the one with the stripe running from the upper left corner diagonally to the bottom right, and the five pointed crown that they believed belonged to the king himself.

  In his mind’s eye, he pictured the key that they had in their possession. He had studied it enough while lying in Riyan’s bed recovering from the poison. It looked as if their part of the key would fit snugly into any one of the spaces. But would just one work? His mind raced over the problem, he knew he didn’t have much time.

  “Bart…” Kevik began but Bart waved him quiet. He had to concentrate.

  There were four spaces which could only mean there were four segments of the key. If that supposition was correct, and one of the segments lay beyond this wall, then why have four spaces here in this wall? Obviously you couldn’t use the key segment lying beyond the wall to open the wall; it had to mean something else.

  “Bart…” Kevik said again, this time with a little more urgency.

  “Not now!” Bart said sternly back at him.

  The segments of the key had to be magical in nature, of that he was positive. What if the sigils inscribed upon the wall were set to recognize the various keys? Maybe by placing one in its correct space upon the wall, that would cause a secret door to open? It was worth a shot. Then he remembered that their segment was sitting way back above the shaft where Riyan and the others had left their packs.

  Turning around, he started to tell Kevik to follow when his foot splashed in water. There was over an inch of water on the floor. He glanced up to Kevik who said, “That’s what I was trying to tell you.”

  “Come on!” Bart yelled. “We haven’t much time.” Racing down the passage, they splashed through the water until they returned to the room where Riyan and Chad were holding the door against the water.

  “Tell me you have it!” Riyan hollered when Bart and Kevik entered the room. Water was flowing steadily through the cracks in the door and it looked like the door was beginning to bow in from the pressure on the other side.

  “Almost,” he replied. “I need the key we found.” He and Kevik started to race back down the passage to the shaft when Riyan hollered for him to stop.

  “It’s not up there,” Riyan said. “It’s in my belt pouch.”

  Bart looked and saw that his belt pouch was bulging pretty good. He had thought it was the many coins they had found. “Thank goodness,” he said and moved to get it.

  “What’s going on?” asked Chad.

  “I’ll tell you when we get out of here,” he replied. Undoing the string holding the pouch closed, he reached in and pulled forth the key. Light from the bobbing sphere reflected off its shiny surface. He saw Kevik’s eyebrows arch when he saw it. “Back we go,” he told him, then they raced back down the passage to the wall.

  When he reached the wall, he started to put the key segment into one of the spaces then stopped. What if he put it in the wrong one? Which one was the right one? Then he glanced to the key segment and saw the sigils. Perhaps they would align with those crisscrossing the wall before him?

  Testing that theory, he moved it closer to the wall and placed it before each of the spaces to see which would line up with the sigils best. As it turned out, the space with the five pointed crown was a perfect match. Hoping he was understanding this right, he inserted the key into the wall.

  As soon as he inserted the key all the way to the back of the space, the sigils surrounding it flared. Then the wall to his right began rising into the ceiling. “Yes!” he yelled. Once the wall was up far enough, he ducked under and passed through to the other side.

  It was a bare and nondescript room, with but a single pedestal rising out of the middle of the floor. His eyes lit up as he saw lying there before him on the pedestal, which was an exact duplicate of the one they found in the room above, another segment of the key. Grinning, he moved forward and picked it up. After what he just did to open this place, it was quite unlikely there would be a trap here.

  Once he held the segment in hand, he quickly put it in his pack and left the room. The water covering the floor was several inches deep now and it was time to leave. He went to the four recesses and used his knife to pry out the first segment. Once it was out, the wall began sliding back down to hide the hidden room.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he said to Kevik and then broke into a run back to where they had left Riyan and Chad.

  Back at the room, they were still holding the door with all their might, but it continued to gradually bow outward. The water flowing from the cracks around the door was no longer a trickle but more like a steady stream.

  Bart and Kevik ran back into the room. “Got it!” Bart yelled triumphantly. “Now let’s get out of here.”

  Riyan and Chad glanced to each other and simultaneously let go of the door. No sooner had they let it loose than the water on the other side broke through. The water burst through the door with such power, that it knocked the door from its hinges and slammed it into Riyan and Chad.

  When the door hit them they went down with a cry as a veritable torrent of water shot through
the opening. It was as if the entire river had been diverted to flow through the doorway.

  “Riyan!” Bart yelled as he saw them go down. The water pushed him back as it rapidly began filling the room and the passages of this level. “Kevik, help me!”

  Riyan broke the surface but there was no sign of Chad.

  Bart immediately dove under the water and groped with his hands until he found Chad. He then pulled him upwards and Chad gave out with a groan as he broke through to the surface.

  Kevik appeared beside him and together they managed to keep Chad above water. “Are you two okay?” Bart asked.

  Riyan nodded but Chad looked like he was in some serious pain.

  “We have to make it to the shaft!” Bart yelled over the roar of the water. Already the water level was chest high and rising. “Help Chad.”

  Riyan came forward and together with Kevik, began helping Chad into and then down the long passage to the shaft that led up to the pedestal room on the next level. “Keep going!” yelled Bart when Kevik paused to look back to him. He could see Bart had hold of the door that broke off and was pushing it along the surface of the water after them. There was no time to wonder what he was going to do with it as the water was now up to their chins with only another foot of space before reaching the ceiling. Urging Chad onward, they drew ever closer to the shaft.

  Bart was finding it increasingly difficult to continue moving the door down the passage. The water was now so high that he didn’t have proper leverage on the floor and was beginning to lag behind. He was afraid that he might not make it in time.

  Ahead of him he could see that Riyan had already reached the shaft and that Kevik and Chad were right behind him. With but inches separating the water and the ceiling, it was all he could do to continue moving forward and breathe. Finally he gave up trying to push along the floor and simply began swimming.

  He kicked and paddled as he pushed the door along until he felt the door being pulled from the other side. The last few feet to the shaft he was completely submerged under the water as the water had finally completely filled the passage.

  When he broke the surface, he found himself in the shaft and the water was shooting them up to the top quickly. He grabbed his rope that was still secured by the goo spell. “Kevik!” he hollered. “Get rid of the goo.” He looked up and saw the opening coming fast. Just before they reached the top, he hollered, “Try to grab your packs. The room up there will fill with water too as it’s beneath the level of the river.”

  Then the water shot them out and they were literally thrown into the air before coming to land. Bart couldn’t tell if they managed to get their packs or not as he was concerned with maintaining contact with the door. But in the churning water he lost his hold and couldn’t locate it as the water continued to fountain out of the shaft with incredible pressure.

  The water was a churning torrent that threw them one way then another. When he realized they would be lucky to make it out with their lives, he hollered, “Get to the stairs!” Looking around, he saw that Kevik and Chad were already entering the passage leading to the stairwell. Of Riyan there was no sign.

  He knew he had to get out of there, the room was already practically filled with water and completely would be in a matter of seconds. Swimming for the passage, he almost made it when he was bumped into by Riyan coming up from beneath the water.

  “Where did you go?” he asked.

  “Got the packs,” Riyan replied with a grin. Then together they swam for the stairs.

  The water quickly filled the room and pushed them along the stairwell. It took them almost to the top before the rising water subsided. Kevik and Chad were the first to climb out of the water and onto the stairs with Bart right behind. Riyan brought up the rear, dragging their three packs with him. He saw the rope coiled around Bart’s arm.

  They made it to the top of the stairs then collapsed.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

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