Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1

by Brian S. Pratt

  The forest was quiet as they made their way from the lake. They knew the general direction the Marketplace lay from the last time and headed that way. Bart stayed some distance ahead of the others so he could better determine if there were goblins about. Riyan, Chad, and Kevik followed along behind and made sure they didn’t lose him.

  They made their way through the trees for over an hour before Bart came to a stop. The others stopped once they realized he had and waited. He stood there motionless for several seconds before ducking down low.

  “Get down,” whispered Riyan as he scrunched down near the base of a nearby tree. The other two followed suit. It wasn’t long before the sound of several goblins making their way through the underbrush from the direction of the Marketplace came to them. The path the goblins were taking would lead them close to where they crouched in hiding.

  Riyan held his breath as they approached. He could hear their guttural language being spoken as they passed by, and even caught a glimpse of their silhouettes in the moonlight. The smoke here wasn’t so thick as to obscure them and he could tell there were at least five.

  The goblins, completely oblivious to where they were hiding just yards away, continued on by. Not until their voices could no longer be heard did Riyan see Bart return to his feet. Riyan waved to him saying they were okay and for him to continue. Bart waved back and then resumed moving towards the Marketplace.

  It took them another three hours before they were able to see the light of a solitary campfire at the Marketplace. At this point Bart waited while the other three joined him, then they moved forward as a group. Bart still took the lead but the others stayed close behind him.

  Every few minutes Bart would pause to listen for any sound out of the ordinary, then would continue. Time and again he would pause, listen, and then continue on. When the buildings of the Marketplace could be seen through the trees, he started to edge around them to where the mountain began its rise.

  During a brief pause, Bart explained what he intended for them to do. “If we move around the Marketplace and come at the pass on the far side,” he explained quietly, “we’ll attract less attention.”

  “Wonder if the soldiers stationed here would come to our aid if the goblins were to attack us?” asked Riyan.

  “Only if we were on the other side of the totems,” replied Bart. “This side is goblin territory. We need to get past the totems to be safe.”

  “Then let’s do it,” urged Riyan.

  Bart nodded and they resumed their progress. As they made their way around the edge of the Marketplace, they began to notice that the place had a deserted look to it. The area where many caravans had been camped before was now empty. It looked like there were no merchants here to trade with the goblins.

  “Could be due to the encroaching fire,” suggested Kevik. “They may wait until the threat is passed before returning.”

  “Sounds plausible,” agreed Chad. “Should make it easier for us to get through.”

  Fifteen minutes later, they reached where they had to begin angling to the pass. Riyan felt extreme relief when they passed through the line of totems. They were safely on the human side again. But then Bart brought them to a halt as he pointed to the mouth of the pass.

  Even though the Marketplace was deserted, there was still a contingent of soldiers stationed there. Half a dozen were standing around the solitary campfire they had initially seen a short time go. The soldiers were no more than a few dozen yards from the mouth of the pass. Any attempt to enter the pass would surely be discovered.

  “What does it matter if they see us or not?” asked Kevik.

  “We have no business being here,” replied Bart. “If it became known that we had spent time in goblin territory, there would arise certain questions which we would be reluctant to answer.”

  Kevik turned to him. “You mean about the key and what you three are trying to do?”

  “That’s right,” he said. “The less others know about what we do, the less someone else can beat us to it.”

  “But they can’t do anything without the keys we carry,” he argued.

  “True. But if it became common knowledge that we carried them,” Bart explained, “our lives wouldn’t be worth spit. Everyone would be after them.”

  In the darkness, they worked to come up with a plan to draw the soldiers away from the pass. Most of the ideas, including Chad’s which was to set the forest on fire, weren’t very practical. Then Bart came up with an idea that might just work. The others offered their opinions and together, they worked it out.

  Half an hour later they had it all set. They returned to their place among the trees near the pass, everyone that was but Riyan. He was in position at one of two small trees that were bent over and held in place with ropes. In Riyan’s hand was the knife he had found in the treasure room, the one with the dragon-sword coat of arms depicted on the crossguard.

  When he had allowed enough time to pass and figured the others to be in position, he cut the rope of the first tree. The tree snapped up and threw a score of hand sized rocks toward the far side of the Marketplace. The rocks struck the side of the canyon less than a hundred feet from the six soldiers at the campsite. Bart had aimed it perfectly.

  By the time Riyan had rejoined the others, three of the soldiers had gone to investigate the noise. As soon as Bart saw Riyan return, and that the three soldiers investigating the noise were in the proper position, he said, “Now Kevik.”

  Kevik nodded and dispelled the green goo that had been holding the other rope of the second tree. When the goo disappeared, the tree straightened up rapidly and launched about forty small pebbles outward that were nestled in a piece of bark wedged between two of its branches. The pebbles rained down on the three soldiers who were investigating the first volley of rocks.

  Cries of alarm rang out as they were struck by the missiles. The remaining three at the campsite immediately rushed to their aid. “Now!” whispered Bart and they ran for the entrance to the pass.

  Not until they were some distance past the campfire did they finally slow down. They looked back to see if the soldiers were showing any indication that they had seen their passing, but the mouth of the pass remained empty.

  “We made it!” whispered Chad excitedly.

  “Yes we did,” replied Riyan with a grin.

  Bart glanced back at the jubilant pair and said, “Best if we don’t celebrate just yet. Once we’re past Crag Keep, then we can relax.”

  That sobered them up quickly. They had forgotten about the checkpoint at the other end where their forged passes had been examined on the way in. Somehow they would have to get past them too.

  Moving quickly, they continued through the pass. Several hours later it began to lighten with the coming of the dawn. An hour after that, a solitary rider was heard approaching from the Crag Keep side of the pass. With nowhere to hide, they simply continued on.

  The rider turned out to be a soldier, possibly one from Crag Keep. He was quick to notice them there in the pass and slowed as he approached. “What are you boys doing here?” he asked.

  “Came here to see goblins,” Bart explained to him. “But the soldiers at the other end wouldn’t let us through. Told us to leave.”

  The soldier got that look people get when they hear something dumb. “Why in the world would you boys want to see a goblin?” he asked. “Mean and vicious they are.”

  Bart shrugged. “Just did. Still want to.”

  “The Marketplace isn’t a safe place for those with no business there,” the soldier told them. “They were right to send you away.” He then looked at each in turn and said, “You continue on to Crag Keep, and once there, keep going.”

  “Yes, sir,” replied a humbled Bart.

  The soldier gave them another stern gaze then continued on his way. They could hear him talking about the idiots of the world as he left them behind.

  “That was smart thinking,” Kevik said.

  “A good lie is worth its wei
ght in gold,” he said. “Been thinking about what to tell someone in just such a circumstance ever since we entered the pass.”

  Kevik nodded. “How much further to this Crag Keep?”

  “On foot? Probably reach it sometime tomorrow,” he replied.

  They continued towards the Keep at a quick walk. They were worried about the soldier they had encountered. When he reached the soldiers at the Marketplace, they may put two and two together and come up with the four of them.

  By the time it grew dark, no one had appeared from the Marketplace’s side of the pass. Despite the exhaustion they were all feeling, Bart pushed them onward. “It will be easier to make it by Crag Keep in the dark than it will in broad daylight,” he argued. So onward they went.

  Most of the night went by before they saw the campfire of those watching the Crag Keep end of the pass. Bart had the others remain back as he moved forward to take a look around. He kept to the shadows as he approached. Once he could see the men around the campfire he came to a stop.

  There were three of them standing near the fire, one had a horn slung at his side. They were talking among themselves, completely oblivious to the fact that there was someone in the darkness watching them.

  Bart gauged the situation, then quietly took off his pack and set it on the ground. He knelt down and removed his darts from his pack.

  “What’s he doing?” whispered Riyan as they watched Bart. They couldn’t tell what he was doing, just that he was doing something with his pack.

  “I don’t know,” replied Chad.

  Bart glanced back to them. He heard them whispering to one another and hoped they would have the good sense to keep it down. Once he had the tips of three of his darts coated from liquid contained within one of his vials, he took them in hand and stood up.

  He then moved a little closer to the three men. When he was in position, he took a dart and threw it. Before it struck the first soldier, the second was already on its way. The first dart struck one of the guards in the shoulder causing him to cry out. Before the other two realized what was happening, they too were struck.

  Riyan saw Bart throw the darts and immediately raced to him. He kept an eye on the soldiers while he rushed to Bart’s side and saw the one with the horn raise it to his lips. But the note never came as the man swooned and collapsed to the ground. The other two soldiers fell shortly afterward. “You killed them!” he yelled accusingly to Bart.

  “Shhh!” Bart said. “Keep it down.” He began moving towards the three fallen soldiers. “They’re not dead, just unconscious and will wake in a couple hours.”

  “Are you sure?” Riyan asked.

  “Yes. Now let me retrieve my darts then we can get out of here.” He moved to the guards and when he noticed the other three were planning on joining him, he said, “Stay out of the light.” Riyan nodded as he, Chad, and Kevik came to a stop.

  Bart went among the three soldiers and quickly pulled his darts out from where they struck. True, each of the soldiers would have a tell-tale wound, but it couldn’t be helped. Once he had recovered his darts, he returned to his pack and replaced them in with the others. He glanced to the walls of Crag Keep and was relieved to find no indication that the men there had noticed anything.

  Finished, he stood up and said, “Let’s make time.” Then he moved out and they practically ran as they made their way past the walls of Crag Keep. They kept far enough away so as not to be observed by the guards walking atop the walls and didn’t stop until the sun was cresting the horizon. At that time they found an out of the way place to make camp.

  They didn’t keep a watch that night. Everyone was so exhausted from the almost two whole days without sleep, plus that final run from Crag Keep, that they practically passed out immediately when their blankets were rolled out and they laid down. They slept the day through and didn’t awaken again until almost nightfall.

  Two days later found them in the small town of Averin where the river that flowed out of the pass past Crag Keep intersected the north-south highway running on the eastern side of the mountains. They were eating a meal in their room as they required privacy for what they were discussing: Where to find the remaining two segments of the key.

  Riyan was explaining to the others his idea. “This idea started to develop as we were riding the river that last time in your makeshift door-raft,” he said to Bart. “When we were each in our loops. The four, separate loops.”

  “I got to thinking about how it was similar to that wall you found with the four spaces,” he explained. “You know, where you put the first segment of the key in to open the door of the room hiding the second?”

  Bart nodded. “Yes, I remember.”

  “It wasn’t until we were past Crag Keep that it came back to me,” he said. “You said that each of the recesses bore one of the coats of arms we found in The Crypt.” Again, Bart nodded. “So I began thinking that there may be something significant about the four coats of arms. Four coats of arms, four segments.”

  “You mean like each segment is associated with a different coat of arms?” asked Bart.

  “Something like that,” replied Riyan. “Didn’t you put the first one in the space with the king’s coat of arm?”

  “Yes I did,” affirmed Bart. “The sigils on the key segment aligned perfectly to the sigils that were on the wall.”

  “And the second key segment was found in Algoth, whose lord’s coat of arms was the dragon-sword.”

  “So let me get this straight,” Kevik said. “Are you thinking that each of the other two segments are to be found in places associated with the other two coats of arms? Kind of like each of them had a hand in hiding one of the segments?”

  “Yes,” Riyan said. “We need to find out all we can about them. Where they were seen, who they were associated with, those sorts of things.”

  “But how are we to find those things out?” Bart asked. “Without arousing suspicion that is?”

  “We have to find somewhere that holds records of coats of arms,” Riyan replied.

  “Only the Warriors Guild has a complete record of past and current coats of arms,” explained Kevik. “My master once mentioned he had to gain permission from the Guildmaster in Gilbeth to research their archives for one. I doubt if they would allow us access.”

  Riyan glanced calculatingly at Chad for a moment then said, “They might to guild members.”

  “Probably,” replied Chad. “But who do we know that…” Then he saw Riyan grin. “You don’t mean…?”

  Riyan nodded. “You and I could join the Warriors Guild.”

  “How?” he asked.

  “As I understand such things,” Bart interjected, “there’s usually two ways in which you can join one of the guilds. Either have a member advance your petition, usually due to the fact that you are a son, or some kind of relative in such case. Or buy your way in, though the buying option could get pretty pricey.”

  Riyan reached into his pack sitting on the floor nearby and pulled out a handful of gems. “I think we’ve got that covered.” Then he turned to Chad. “What do you say? Would beat the heck out of being a miller?”

  Chad nodded. “You’re on. I say we do it.”

  Bart looked to Kevik. “What do you say? Are you in too?”

  Riyan and Chad turned their attention to Kevik. “We’d like to have you.” Chad nodded agreement.

  Kevik nodded. “I’m in.”

  “Fantastic,” said Riyan. “I propose that we each swear an oath, that we keep secret all things concerning our search for the King’s Horde. That from this point on, we are brothers bound in common purpose.” He glanced to the others. Then as one the four comrades spoke: “I so swear.”

  The quest continues in:

  Hunter of the Horde

  Book Two of The Broken Key Trilogy

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