The Keyshnect: Chasing Bondahar Part 1

Hello everyone,
I want to apologise for not posting for so long, but here is my new post, I will be continuing with this story for a while, it is a book, or it will be when it is finished. Please leave me your feedback.
Thank You,
R. Wesley Nance

The Keyshnect: Chasing Bondahar part 1

"Who are you?"
"King Ahk-hatta."
"So, I've found you."
"Yes, you've found me, but you've not found what you're looking for."
"What?"
"The keys, I don't have them."
"Who does?"
"Bondahar, Jack Von Bondahar, the assassin."
Krethos sheathed his sword, King Ahk-hatta did not seem as fearsome as the stories told, but his back had been turned to Krethos the entire conversation. The King peered out his window at his courtyard below.
"Your friends were willing to die for you, 'twould be a heavy burden to bear if they died for naught."
"Nay, if I can look upon the face of their killer it would be sufficient memorial, more so if their killer is dead."
"You cannot look upon my face, not because of a disfigurement, but because I cannot bear to look upon the face of the Keyschnect."
Krethos moved his hand to the hilt of his sword.
"The what?" Krethos asked.
"If you have not heard, then I am not the one to tell you. Leave boy lest I be the tool for your death."
Krethos ran from the castle and down into the valley.

Chapter 1

"Bondahar? Yes, Bondahar, he was here, last month." Answered the butcher.
"Which way did he go?" Krethos asked.
"I wouldn't know, He just came in for some dried meat, I didn't see him leave." The butcher answered again.
"Thank you." Krethos said as he walked out of the Butcher's shop. It had been three months since his confrontation with King Ahk-hatta, and he had been following the elusive trail of the famous assassin, Jack Von Bondahar. He had not asked about the Keyshnect, whatever that meant, but had not allowed it to leave his mind.
Krethos moved into the center of the shanty town and announced that he was looking for Von Bondahar.
"'e was 'ere, e munth ago, 'e went uff ta 'is 'ouse een da mounts." Offered one of the villagers.
"Yeah, he went off to the east, into the mountains, he has a house up there." Offered another.
"Thank you, thank you all." Krethos said before tossing a bag of gold into the crowd and running off to the east. The sun set before he got very far out of the town, so he settled down for the night, never fully asleep, his hand always on his sword.
The next day he walked high into the mountains, other than some wolves across the draw there was no sign of life on the mountainside. He followed a stream that ran down the mountain, it seemed to be the best place for a house, along some water. The path was steep, with several five to six foot waterfalls and cliffs to clamber up, but as difficult as it was to walk up, Krethos never saw any sign that Von Bondahar had been this way.
As the sun dipped low into the western sky Krethos came above the timberline, and there he saw a small hut, it seemed as if candles lit the windows, but no smoke rose from the chimney.
He quietly stole over the rocky ground up to the side of the hut, and peered in the windows, no one was inside but the candles were burning, suddenly he noticed a shape like a body laying on the bed by the far wall. Krethos slipped to the door and slowly inched it open, he slid himself inside and softly pushed the door closed. The silence in the room was so heavy it almost hurt his ears as he crossed the room in three light strides, he grabbed the blanket on the bed and pulled it back.
His eyes were met with, not the sleeping body of Von Bondahar, but with two bodies, dead wolves. Krethos turned around, as if he expected the assassin to come charging in the door, but nothing happened, other than Krethos noticing a folded piece of paper on the table. He walked to the table and picked it up, it read:
Dear Krethos,
You may notice that I am not here, by my own design. I cannot make it so easy, you'll have to work for this, You want the keys, perhaps it is right that the Keyshnect should have them, but you have to fight for them, I will not be returning to my little hut, feel free to make yourself at home, I left some dinner for you on the bed, I hear that they're good eating, but I wouldn't know, I hope to meet you in person some day, even if our relationship lasts no more than an hour afterwards.
Yours truly,
Jack Von Bondahar
Krethos didn't dare stay in the home of an enemy, no matter what the note said. So he took some dried meat from the cellar and walked back into the trees before settling down for the night, but he got up a few moments later and went back into the house. He threw the candles onto the bed and lit the house on fire, so that Von Bondahar would not double back and hide in his home while Krethos went on. Only after that was done did Krethos go to sleep.
He woke up in the morning with an arrow six inches from his face, it had a note on it;
That was a bad move boy.
Krethos jumped up and looked around, Von Bondahar must of shot that and moved on over the mountain long before first light, he thought. He wasted no time in getting over the top of the mountain following the light tracks that his adversary had obviously not taken the time to cover.
The descent was hard and treacherous, Krethos lost his footing several times but always managed to get it back before anything happened. There was no creek running down this side of the mountain to guide him, only the occasional slide that Von Bondahar had made when he had lost his footing. All the way down Krethos could hear the distant baying of wolves and occasionally the sound of them fighting.
Then it happened, Krethos lost his footing, badly, he tumbled down the mountain and dashed his head against a tree, over half a mile down, he immediately fell to unconsciousness and lay at the edge of the forest.

Chapter 2

Krethos awoke, he was not in the woods any longer, but in a finely furnished cabin. He propped himself up on an elbow and looked around, there was no one in the room. He laid himself back down on the bed before painfully trying to rise, every inch of his body burned from his tumble, but he persisted until he fell out of the bed.
A young lady walked briskly into the room and helped Krethos back into the bed, she then moved off into the corner and drew some water from the pump and gave it to Krethos.
"Drink up," She said in her soft voice, "You've been out for three days, or at least you've been here for three days, I don't know how long you've been out, who are you?"
"My name is Krethos," He croaked as he drank, "I've been trying to find a Jack Von Bondahar, and some one to tell me who or what the Keyshnect is."
"Well, Bondahar's been through here recently, and I expect that someone in town could answer the Keyshnect question, I am Esmerelda. Tell me, how did you come to be following Bondahar, Krethos."
Krethos looked over the woman's face, she seemed trustworthy enough, "I, and some of my friends, were attacked by some of King Ahk-hatta's troops. Our village was destroyed, my family was killed, as were the families of my friends. It was around then that I heard of the keys of the dark world, the keys to death, I could amend my losses, and my friend's losses as well. So we set out to find them, I learned that they were in the hands of King Ahk-hatta, or at least legend said they were. My friends died so that I could take the keys from the king and undo death, but he said that they were stolen from him by Jack Von Bondahar, he then called me the Keyshnect. And all this has lead me to follow Von Bondahar, to take the keys, and find out what the Keyshnect is.
"If you give me something to see myself in I can tell you how long I've been out."
Esmerelda brought Krethos a bowl of water, he looked in to see a face with several cuts across it, and four days of beard growth. He laid back down and went to sleep, and slept for the next couple of days, until he was able to get up and walk around, at which point he began to help Esmerelda to several things around her cabin.
One week after he had arrived Esmerelda came to Krethos for help, "I need to stock up on supplies, my brother will be returning from the mines next month," she said, "I need you to come to town with me."
"I can go with you, perhaps someone in town can tell me about this Keyshnect." Krethos answered.

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