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

laughter stilled.
    “Thanks,” Kevik said. He really didn’t mind their laughter, it felt good to be a part of this group. The ability to laugh at one another at times without hard feelings, helped to bind them closer together. He had never had such companions before in his life, and he was proud to be counted as one of them.
    ”Come on,” Bart said as he swung into the saddle. “We’ve still got a ways to go.” He rode his horse out of the stable and was soon joined by the others. Leading the way, Bart had them heading out of town and on the road to the crossroads at Skerin.
    The weather remained good with sunshine throughout the day. Ice began to turn to slush under the warmth of the sun’s rays, it almost felt as if the world was warming up. But that was just an illusion as once the sun went down, the world would freeze all over again.
    From Skerin, they set out the following morning under partly cloudy skies. To the west, storm clouds could be seen far away on the horizon.
    On their left flowed the river as it made its way from the forest of Ki’ Gyrx. It flowed alongside the road throughout the day. They weren’t able to reach Skerin by nightfall, instead they stayed at one of the roadside inns some miles north of the city. By the time the sun went down, the storm clouds to the west had drawn closer, but could still pass them by. They fervently hoped so.
    Riyan was up with the sun the following morning and the first thing he did was go to the window and check on the storm’s progress. The edge of the cloud cover remained about where it had been the previous evening. It looked as if the storm wasn’t going to come their way.
    By noon they were at Kibb. A moderate city, it sat on the crossroads where the road from the north ended at another that came from the southeast and continued on to the west. The river that had been running alongside the road since Skerin came to an end as well, flowing into a large lake. The city of Kibb sat on the lake’s western shore. From there they turned to follow the new road as it moved southeast. A day and a half later they came to the city of Hunter’s Reach.
    With the sun still hours away from dropping below the western horizon, they rode through the gate of Hunter’s Reach. It was the last major town before Kendruck, which was still at least three days away. From there, their road led south to the northern slope of Tinderlock Mountains. Then they head east and follow the road as it begins turning south to run along the eastern slopes of the mountain the rest of the way to Kendruck.
    The storm clouds to the west which they had kept an eye on for the last two days had steadily drawn closer until they now blotted out most of the sky. It was decided to find an inn and see how things looked in the morning before heading further south. From what they gathered from talking with a trader, there wasn’t much to be found from Hunter’s Reach to Kendruck.
    The first inn they located was the Tradewynd. After acquiring rooms, Riyan had the idea of searching for a wine merchant to see if they could learn more of the bottle and the crest it bore. They asked the proprietress of the Tradewynd and were told Hunter’s Reach didn’t have one.
    “A wine merchant?” she asked with a grin. “Here?” After chuckling for a moment, she said, “Only place around here where you might find wine is over at Tinton’s. He runs a place that has more merchandise than two chandlers’ if you ask me.”
    “Where might we find it?” Bart asked.
    “You boys come through the west gate?” she asked.
    Riyan shook his head. “No,” he replied. “The north.”
    “Well, head over to the west gate and you’ll find it not too far from there,” she said. “You can’t miss it.”
    “Thank you ma’am,” Riyan said to her.
    They left the inn and made their way across town toward the western gate. The streets were fairly clear of snow. Most of it had either been removed by the citizens of