Quest's End: The Broken Key #3 by Brian S. Pratt Read Free Book Online

retrace their steps in case there were magical wards in place elsewhere. He finished his narrative just as they reached the horses.
    Riyan mounted then gazed to the house. “Sounds like a family having fun on a winter’s night,” he said.
    “I know,” agreed Bart. “Weird.”
    “Why weird?” questioned Riyan. “I’m sure some magic users are just regular folks.” Then he chuckled.
    “What?” asked Bart.
    “I was imagining Kevik doing that in his robes,” he said with a grin. Then they both laughed as they turned their horses back toward the main road. In a short time they were back at the inn.

    The next morning after they had gathered in the common room for their morning meal, Bart went to see if the King’s coins were still nailed to the wall behind the counter where guests arranged for rooms. Sure enough, they were still there. So, when their serving girl returned from the kitchen with their food, he asked her about them.
    “Oh those? They’re the King’s coins,” she explained. “There used to be one of those Hunters of the Horde that lived around here, Durik was his name. But he died a while back during a trip to the east.”
    “Do you know how he died?” asked Chyfe. He and the others knew exactly how he had died and who had killed him. What he wanted to know was what everyone else knew.
    “Not really,” she explained. “A thief killed him I think. That’s what I heard.”
    “Too bad,” Bart said. “I would have liked to have been able to talk to him.”
    She shook her head slightly. “He wasn’t what one would have called sociable,” she said. “He mainly stayed at his estate except those nights when he would come to the tavern across the way.”
    “This Hunter had an estate here?” Riyan asked, prompting her to continue.
    “He did,” she replied. “It was auctioned off several weeks ago to a magic user and his family.” Her face lost some of its jovialness. “Don’t know if I like the idea of one of them living nearby.” Then her face registered shock and a little bit of fear as her eyes went quickly to Kevik in his magic user robes and the staff propped against the wall nearby.
    “Oh!” she said. “I…I didn’t mean that magic users were a bad sort, or anything like that.”
    Kevik gave her a reassuring smile. “I took no offense,” he assured her. Sighing, he added, “Some of my brethren fully deserve to be thought about in such a way. But most of us are like everyone else.” Glancing to Riyan and Bart, he said, “I’m sure most professions have their share of the bad sort.”
    Riyan nodded in agreement. “You’ve got that right,” he said.
    She relaxed a little after receiving Kevik’s assurance that he had taken no offense. But she still beat a hasty retreat to the kitchen when she was through.
    After she disappeared through the kitchen door, Bart said, “I don’t think the magic user and his family are associated with Durik.”
    “No,” agreed Riyan, “I don’t think so either.”
    They finished their meal, and it wasn’t until they were beginning to leave that the door to the kitchen cracked open and the girl peered out at them.
    “Thank you for the wonderful meal,” Kevik told her. He took out a silver and left it for her on the table. He could see that she saw the coin he placed on the table, but made no move to leave the safety of the kitchen to retrieve it.
    Outside at the stable while they were getting their horses ready for travel, Chyfe commented to Kevik, “You do have a fearsome presence.”
    “Do I?” asked Kevik. Turning toward Chyfe, he could see the laughter behind his eyes barely kept in check. Then from where Chad was cinching tight the straps securing the saddle to his horse, he heard him break into laughter. Chyfe burst out with laughter as he could no longer contain it.
    “No,” Riyan said as he turned to Kevik, “you don’t look fearsome. But your spells are nothing to laugh at.” Glaring at the others, he soon had the