Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1

by Brian S. Pratt

  Riyan was quick to get the fire they left banked on the landing restored to life. The others came from the steps and embraced its warmth. Chad wasn’t doing too good, there was pain coming from his back. When the door struck him, it had injured his back in some way, maybe even broken something. He was fortunate that the blow didn’t paralyze him.

  After Kevik and Bart helped him to the fire, Bart dug one of the potions they had found earlier out of his pack and gave it to him. “Here,” he said as he handed it to him.

  Chad could barely reach out to take it as the movement of his muscles aggravated his injury and flared the already unbearable pain to such an extent that dots formed before his eyes. Kevik had to help him open the bottle before he could drink it. Then he put it to his lips and drank it down. As soon as the elixir within the bottle passed through his throat, the pain began subsiding.

  Bart could see the pain in his eyes beginning to ease, along with the stiffness in the rest of his body.

  “Man that feels better,” Chad said after a few minutes. In the area of his back where the pain had flared the worst, he began to notice a warming sensation that continued to intensify until just before it became uncomfortable. Not an unpleasant sensation, it was more a reassuring one as Chad new the injury was being repaired by the potion.

  “I was worried about you for awhile there,” admitted Riyan.

  Chad gave him a grin, “So was I.”

  Then they saw the glitter of gold as Bart removed the two segments of the key and showed them to the others. He went on to tell them what he saw down below, how he had opened the door, and finally the finding of the second segment.

  “So does this mean there are two more somewhere?” asked Kevik.

  “It looks that way,” he replied. Then he glanced to Riyan. “It may take some time before we can discover where to find the other two segments.”

  Riyan nodded. “I figured that as soon as I saw the second segment.”

  Bart held the two pieces close together and then turned them so the map on the back was visible. “They go together,” he told the others. Indeed, they could see how the edge of the map of the original one matched the edge of the second. If you were to put them together there would be one continuous map.

  “Are there any indications of where the other segments may be?” Chad asked. Since markings on the first one had led them to the Ruins of Algoth where the second segment was located, he hoped there would be something similar on the second segment that would lead them to a third.

  Bart brought the second segment closer to the light of the fire and examined it closely but couldn’t make out any such markings. He finally looked up at the others and shook his head. “No, nothing.”

  “Too bad,” Chad said.

  The fire crackled in the silence as the four comrades sat on the ledge next to the flowing river. Bart was fiddling with the two segments and brought them together so the edges touched, he was wondering if they would fuse together or something. To his disappointment, nothing happened when they touched. Shrugging, he handed the two segments to Chad so he and the others could examine them. Then he stood up and stretched.

  Riyan glanced at him and saw Bart begin moving to the passage leading back to the flooded stairwell and tunnels. “Where are you going?” he asked.

  Bart paused and said, “I want to see if I can find that door.”

  “What do you want that for anyway?” Kevik asked.

  Turning to gaze towards him, Bart said, “It would give us something to hold onto when we went down the river.”

  Kevik nodded his head in understanding. “Do you need some help?” he asked.

  “Maybe your light would be helpful,” he replied.

  “Alright,” Kevik said then got to his feet and joined him. His bobbing sphere appeared and they began walking down the passage together.

  When they reached the top of the stairs, the light from the sphere revealed that the water flooding the lower area came to within ten feet of the top of the stairs. The door was nowhere in sight.

  “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this,” Bart sighed as he shed his pack. He set it down against the wall and began uncoiling his rope.

  “What do you plan to do?” Kevik asked.

  With the rope now uncoiled, Bart tied it around his waist as he turned back to Kevik. “I’m going after it,” he explained. “I would appreciate it if you could hold onto the end of the rope for me.”

  “Sure,” he said. “I can do that.” He picked up the other end of the rope and stood ready.

  “Once I go under, start counting,” Bart told him. “If you get to two hundred before I return, start pulling me back.”

  “Are you sure you can hold your breath that long?” Kevik asked.

  Bart nodded. “Two hundred and no more understand?”

  “I understand.”

  Tuning back to the stairs, Bart began moving down them to the water’s edge. When his foot entered the water, it sent a shiver of cold through him. He tried to disregard the coldness as he moved further into the water. Once he reached the place where it was up to his neck, he glanced back to Kevik and saw that he was ready. He then took several deep breaths in succession before diving under the surface.

  “One…two…three…,” Kevik began counting.

  Bart soon left the glow from Kevik’s bobbing sphere behind as he swam down into the darkness below. He knew that the door would be pressed against the ceiling somewhere, its buoyancy would see to that. So as he swam he periodically ran his hand along the stone ceiling in search of the wood.

  He’s pretty sure that the door would still be in the room at the top of the shaft. That’s where he had lost track of it. Somehow he’s got to get it into the passage leading to the stairwell before his air ran out.

  Deeper he went into the darkness until he felt the ceiling all of a sudden rise higher telling him he had entered the room. From there he began checking the room’s ceiling. By this time, the effort to keep from breathing was growing increasingly harder. He knew he didn’t have much time left so quickly searched for the door.

  After a few moments his hand hit something. It was the door. The water held it pressed tightly to the ceiling. He then moved to the other side and began working it to the opening of the passage leading to the stairwell.

  It was hard going but he moved it several feet before he felt a tug on the rope as Kevik began reeling him back in. He let go of the door and quickly swam back along the rope’s path until his head broke through the surface.

  The air that had been trapped inside burst out as his lungs began drawing fresh air into them. He started coughing as droplets of water were sucked down with his first inhalation.

  “Did you find it?”

  He looked up to see Riyan and Chad standing next to Kevik. Nodding, he coughed a couple more times then said, “Yes I did. It’s in the room at the other end of the passage. Give me a minute to catch my breath and I’ll try again.”

  Then he glanced to Chad. “How’s your back?”

  “Good as new,” he replied then did a few bends and twists to emphasize the point.

  “Don’t overdue it,” cautioned Bart.

  “I won’t,” Chad assured him. He looked tired, the magic of the potion again having used energy from his body in its healing.

  Bart rested a few minutes then returned to the water. It took him another two times before he was able to bring the door out of the room and up the stairwell. When he broke the surface with the door in hand, the other three cheered.

  Riyan and Kevik grabbed the door and brought it out to the landing where they set it down next to the fire. When Chad returned with Bart, Riyan asked, “What do you plan to do with it?”

  “Quite simple really,” he explained. “We set our packs in the center of the door then wind the rope in and around them to create four loops large enough to hold each of us. One loop will extend over each of the four sides of the door so we won’t be knocked together if things get rough. Then Ke
vik casts his goo spell so that it will coat all the packs and bind the rope to the door.” He could see that the others were beginning to understand his plan.

  “After that it’s fairly straightforward,” he continued. “We put the door with packs and rope already secured by the goo into the water. Then we get into the water, place ourselves within the loops, and ride the river out of here.”

  “What if it doesn’t go anywhere?” asked Chad.

  Bart turned a grim smile towards him. “Then our adventure comes to an end.” He glanced around at the others and said, “If anyone here has a better plan, now would be the time to mention it.” When the others remained silent, he nodded. “Very well then. Shall we get it ready?”

  They took their four packs and placed them in the center of the door just as Bart had said. They weren’t willing to risk the two segments of the key by keeping them in the packs, so Bart and Riyan each put one of the segments in their belt pouches for safekeeping.

  Once the packs were in position on the door, Bart took his rope and looped it around so it crisscrossed through the packs several times. When he was done, a loop extended past the edge of the door on all four sides. Then he said to Kevik, “Your turn.”

  Nodding, Kevik cast his goo spell. The green globule appeared on top of the packs and quickly oozed its way down to the door beneath. When its movement finally stopped, Bart had each of them grip a different loop. Then with all of them straining hard, they pulled and jerked the loops. Bart grinned to himself when after all they tried to do, not one loop came undone from the goo coating.

  “So we have about an hour?” he asked Kevik about the goo.

  “Something like that,” he replied. “I’ve never actually timed it before, but that’s what I was told by my master.”

  Bart nodded. “Good enough for me. If after an hour we’re still in the water, we’ll try to find someplace to land and redo it.” Taking his loop in hand he and the others lifted the makeshift door-raft and carried it to the water’s edge.

  “Let me get in first,” suggested Riyan. “That way I can steady it while the rest of you take your position.” Riyan let go of his loop and quickly slipped over the side of the landing. Once he was in the water and had a secure hold on the landing’s edge, he indicated for them to put the raft in the water.

  Moving it to the edge, they slid it into the water. Riyan immediately ducked under the surface and came up within the loop closest to the landing. Then he again gripped the landing’s edge. “Alright,” he said, “now the rest of you one at a time.”

  Bart was the first one to enter the water and took his position in another loop. Then he helped Riyan hold the raft against the current while first Kevik, then Chad, entered the water and took their position.

  Chad, being the last to enter, had to work his way around the edge of the raft before he came to the last loop. Once he was within the loop, Bart and Riyan let go. The current immediately pulled them away from the landing and swept them downstream quickly.

  The underground river turned to the right and the raft drifted to the outside of the curve. Chad happened to be on that side and when the current moved them too close to the wall, he used his feet to kick them back towards the middle.

  Above the raft were three bobbing spheres. Riyan had requested Kevik to supply more light so they could better keep an eye on what was coming ahead. They didn’t have paddles or oars so would need some warning if they should all of a sudden need to change their position on the river to avoid an obstacle.

  As the river finished its curve, it began moving along a straighter channel. Not too far past the curve, Kevik noticed another landing on the inside bank of the river. “Another landing!” he hollered when he saw it.

  “It might be the way out!” cried Bart.

  They used their arms and legs in an attempt to gain the other side of the river but the current was too strong. Bart suggested they dismantle their raft and use the ropes and packs like they had done before. But they were moving far too quickly away from the landing for them to have it ready in time to use, so they decided against it. All they could do was float in the water, secure in their loops, while the landing disappeared behind them.

  Floating along as they were was fairly comfortable actually. If they could ignore the coldness of the water it really wasn’t all that bad. They had the rope loops to keep them from sinking, while the door itself gave them something to hold onto.

  Several minutes after the landing disappeared behind them, the current of the river felt as if it was picking up. Then from further ahead came the unmistakable sound of rapids. “This could get interesting,” commented Riyan.

  “No matter what happens,” Bart said, “don’t let go of your loop.”

  “Wasn’t planning on it,” Chad told him.

  The surface of the water that had been so placid thus far began rocking them back and forth. They hung on as the river’s speed increased and they saw the approach of the rapids. Their little makeshift raft was soon being thrown about as the water crashed over the rocks. They would be plunged down one watery furrow, before a swell would raise them high only to be slammed back down again. Once when the wave slammed them down, they were jarred fiercely when the door landed on a rock that was protruding out of the water.

  “We’re stuck,” hollered Kevin fearfully as they teetered there upon the tip of the stone.

  “Rock it back and forth!” yelled Bart. Water kept crashing into them but failed to dislodge their raft. They shifted their weight from one side to the next as they attempted to dislodge their raft from the rock. Riyan and Chad were in good position to use their feet against the sides of the rock for leverage. Then suddenly, they were free and again being tossed by the water.

  Their raft would turn round about as the water kept thrashing them. First Riyan’s side of the raft would be facing downstream, then it would be Kevik’s turn. Back and forth and roundabout they went as the water continued to crash over the rocks. They each kept a look ahead of them as best they could to avoid dangers.

  “A rock!” said Bart.

  Just ahead of them a large rock thrust its way out of the water, the river was crashing fiercely upon its side. Riyan was in perfect position to be rammed into it. He pointed to the left and yelled, “That way!” Using their feet and arms they worked the raft so that it only grazed the side of the rock. Riyan kicked out at it to keep his body from being crushed between it and the edge of the door.

  “How much more of this is there?” yelled Chad.

  From Bart’s position he could see ahead of them for as far as the spheres illuminated. “Still a ways,” he replied. Then he saw where the river was about to go down a series of shallow falls. “Hold on!” he yelled.

  Riyan looked over his shoulder and saw what was coming. “Oh my god,” he said then braced himself as the raft went over the first drop. It was only five feet, but when he hit, Riyan felt like he had fallen a hundred. Then the raft slammed painfully into his chest and pushed him even further under the water.

  The blow to his chest seemed to stun his lungs for when he broke the surface, he couldn’t get a breath. Then his lungs eased up and after few anxious moments, could start drawing breaths again.

  “Here comes another one!” Kevik yelled as they headed for the lip of the next fall.

  Riyan panicked at the thought of another blow like the last one. But then he realized the raft had turned and he wouldn’t be directly beneath it when it hit this time. He gripped the loop holding him to the raft tightly as they went over the edge.

  This one was a three tiered fall and by the time they reached the bottom, they were all bruised and battered. Kevik thought he may have broken his leg. At this point the river calmed down and began flowing normally once more.

  “Everyone alright?” Riyan asked.

  “No,” replied Kevik through gritted teeth. “My leg hit a rock during those last rapids. I think it may be broken.”

  Riyan turned to Chad and Bart. “We need t
o get him out of the water and look at it,” he told them. They nodded and began searching for a place where they could make landfall. A few minutes later, an area came into view that looked like it would do. The walls of the channel the water flowed through began to widen and a shelf of sorts appeared on their right. It was at least six inches higher than the surface of the water and wide enough for them to rest upon.

  They paddled as best they could towards it. Kevik of course was dead weight due to his injury. When they drew close to the shelf, they found that the river was shallower here and they could touch the bottom. When they were next to the edge, Bart and Riyan helped Kevik out of his loop and up onto the shelf. Chad took charge of the raft and made sure it didn’t float away.

  Setting Kevik on the shelf, Bart placed his hands on the suspected broken leg. He moved them gently up and down as he sought the break. After several minutes he looked to Kevik and said, “I don’t think it’s broken.”

  “You sure?” he asked.

  Bart nodded. “The bone feels fine,” he explained. “You probably just bruised it.”

  “That’s a relief,” he said.

  They decided to take a break there on the shelf to give them some time out of the water before continuing. Bart and Riyan helped Chad in pulling the raft up onto the shelf. Once it was out of the water and resting on the ground, Kevik canceled his goo spell so Riyan could give him some of his healing potion. Not all of it, just enough to ease the pain.

  Propping themselves against the back wall of the shelf, they rested for a short time. While Riyan was resting he noticed how the shelf ran along the river past where the light from the spheres extended. “Wonder if we could walk the rest of the way?” he asked.

  “Rest of the way to where?” asked Kevik.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Maybe this comes out at the lake or something.”

  Bart nodded, “Could definitely give it a try. If it doesn’t, we could always come back here to the raft.”

  “I just wish we had a regular lantern or torch,” said Chad.

  Riyan glanced at the bobbing spheres which have begun to grate on everyone’s nerves. “Me too,” he agreed.

  After resting for a little longer to give the potion ample time to work on Kevik, they returned to their feet. They each took their pack and Bart coiled the rope before placing it in his. Then they began making their way along the shelf. The shelf continued to follow the river and at times would grow quite narrow as to be almost nonexistent. Other times it widened sufficiently so all four could walk abreast if they wished.

  They had followed the shelf for twenty minutes before it ended at a rock formation that jutted out from the wall. In order to continue they would have to enter the river and work their way around the obstruction to the other side. Which after a quick confab they decided to do.

  Riyan went first with Chad following right behind. Bart brought up the rear as they entered the water and edged out to move around the outcrop. Riyan maintained his balance against the current by holding on as best he could to the cracks and crevices in the face of the outcrop.

  The worst part was when he began moving around the end of the outcrop. He almost lost his footing as the current was at its strongest there. But he managed to work his way around to the other side.

  “The shelf continues on,” he hollered back to the others when he could see it.

  “Good news,” he heard Bart reply.

  One by one they made their way around the point of the outcrop. Riyan had remained out at the point to assist the others. It didn’t take long before they were once again back on the shelf and continuing on.

  The underground channel they were walking through was quiet except for the occasional lapping of water against the sides. None of them felt much like talking, exhaustion resulting from all they’ve recently gone through had sapped their desire for conversation. And it was in this quiet that the warbling of a bird was suddenly heard.

  Riyan came to a stop and asked, “Did you hear that?”

  Again the warbling echoed down the channel. “It’s a bird!” exclaimed Kevik.

  “That means the way out can’t be too far away,” Bart said. “Can you tell where it’s coming from.”

  They paused for a moment as each listened to the bird’s call. “It’s coming from up ahead,” Chad finally said.

  “Then what are we waiting for?” Kevik said. “I for one am anxious to get out of here.”

  Bart sighed. “So am I.”

  With the possibility of escaping this underground world and returning to the outside before them, they hurried forward with renewed energy. Shortly, they began to smell flowers and other vegetation and then they were out. The river left the mouth of an underground cave and then worked its way down among the hills to the small lake off in the distance.

  It was still night, the moon overhead shining bright. “Were we down there all day?” asked Chad.

  “It would seem so,” replied Bart.

  “No wonder I’m so tired,” yawned Riyan.

  “But now is not the time to rest,” Bart told the others. “We still need to get out of goblin territory.”

  “Are we finished in Algoth then?” asked Chad.

  “We found what we came for,” replied Bart. “Now it’s time to go.”

  They couldn’t help but to turn their gaze southeastward towards the mountains that marked the boundary between goblin lands and that of humans. Hidden in the night, their mighty peaks were but a pale shadowy whisper against the backdrop of stars.

  Riyan finally broke the quiet by saying, “It’s not getting any closer with us just standing here.” And with that they headed out.

  Lights could be seen on the far side of the small lake where the underground river finally ended, indicating another of the goblin villages. Riyan, Chad, and Kevik began to move off through the hills when Bart suddenly stopped and grew thoughtful. Riyan was quick to notice his friend not following and came to a stop as well.

  “What is it?” he asked. Chad and Kevik came to a stop and returned back to the other two.

  “I was thinking that if we were to take a boat from yonder village,” he explained as he pointed off to the distant lights, “then we could reach the Marketplace all the quicker.”

  “Seems a bit risky to me,” argued Chad.

  Bart turned to him and said, “So is hoofing it on foot across goblin infested lands. They know we’re here somewhere,” Then he sniffed and added, “From the smell of it the fire is still burning and it’s between us and the mountains.”

  The air did still smell of smoke. “They have ponies too,” Riyan said in support of Bart’s suggestion. “On horses we could outrun them, but not on foot.”

  “And don’t forget,” chimed in Kevik, “even when the goblins were on foot the only reason they didn’t catch us was that we passed the totem and entered Algoth.”

  Chad could see they were in support of Bart’s plan. “Very well,” he agreed.

  Bart nodded. “Okay. Let’s get down to the water’s edge and then Chad and Kevik, you two wait on the shore while Riyan and I go steal us a boat.”

  “Me?” asked Riyan. He was nervous about entering into a goblin village. Visions of his death rolled through his mind.

  “Yes you,” Bart said. “I need someone to watch my back and you’re the only one not weakened by recent injury.”

  Riyan swallowed and nodded. “Alright,” he said. His voice revealed the nervousness that he was feeling.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

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