Quest's End: The Broken Key #3 by Brian S. Pratt

Author:Brian S. Pratt
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: teen, troll, ancient, magic, the broken key, series, spell, young, the morcyth saga, fantasy, role, adventure, rpg, action, brian s pratt, epic, ruins, playing, adult
Publisher: Brian S. Pratt
Published: 2010-08-22T17:41:28.566495+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

__________________________

If they had been expecting a wild ride, they were sorely disappointed. Having been in the canyon well over an hour, they encountered nothing but gently flowing water. Chad and Riyan were rowing hard, having taken over from the twins to give them a break. With the threat of pursuit likely to soon develop, they had to keep a fast pace.

“This isn’t so bad,” commented Bart. In fact, for those not rowing, it was a quiet and peaceful ride. The canyon walls rose high on either side of them. In places they were almost vertical while in others there was more of a gentler incline.

“No it isn’t,” agreed Riyan. “How far should we go?”

From his position at the prow, Bart replied, “At least until dark. We’ll find a spot to make camp before the light completely fades.”

“Won’t that afford those behind us a chance to catch up?” asked Seth.

Bart glanced to the walls of the canyon rising above them. “Any pursuit likely to overtake us will come down the river,” he said. “And from what you’ve said of the conversation you had about this place, it sounded like they would be hesitant to follow.”

“The average citizen, yes,” agreed Seth. “But these will be soldiers in pursuit.”

“Look,” interjected Chad, “riding along an unknown river in the dark is dangerous. Especially one with a reputation of being deadly.”

“I see your point,” agreed Seth.

Another couple of hours found them even deeper into the canyon with no sign of it ending. None of them had ever heard of one so long before. Oh sure, in the mountains around Quillim there were many canyons, but none like this.

The sides of the canyon were dotted with scrub brush and the occasional tree. In one area they came to it looked as if the canyon wall on the right had given way some time in the distant past. A great pile of rocks had been deposited in and around the river. Some of the rocks ranged from being the size of a small boulder to that of a large house. Passing through that area gave them a few anxious moments of white water turbulence, but it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle.

For the rest of the morning and afternoon, they continued rowing. Every half hour they would rotate the rowers so as not to overtire anyone. When the sun reached the rim of the canyon and the light started to fade, they sought a place to camp. It only took them a short time before a suitable location was found.

The canyon widened a bit as its walls grew less vertical. A beach of sorts opened up on their right side, large enough to afford them sufficient dry, level ground upon which to camp. Kevik, who had tiller duty, steered them over to it where they disembarked.

“Gather what wood you can,” Bart said as he left the boat. “We’ll need a fire. It’s going to get cold tonight.” It was already nippy. With the wind whipping through the canyon as it was, it brought the wind chill down to well below freezing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.