Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 (8 page)

Chad looked to his friend and saw something in his friend’s face he hadn’t seen before. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind,” he assured him. “You go ask her and I’ll tell my father what’s going on.”

“But…”

“This is great!” Chad exclaimed. “Meet me at the mill after you talk to her.” Then he turned around and hurried back to the mill.

Bart stood there for a minute watching the excited steps of his friend. Not nearly sharing his friend’s enthusiasm for going to Wardean, he swallowed hard. Only be there a short time, he said to himself. Then he began walking down the lane to tell old lady Rebecca that he would have to start on the stump tomorrow.

“No!”

“But father,” argued Chad, “this could save us.”

“No!” his father repeated. When Chad had gone to tell his father that he and Bart were going to Wardean and why, he found his father emphatically against it.

“Why?” he asked.

“I will not take the chance on magic to save us,” he explained. “Nothing ever good came from such things.”

“But Bart said this Phyndyr was a master scroller,” insisted Chad. “He guaranteed that we could get this fixed without having to borrow from the Magistrate.” His father gave him a look he’s seen many times over the course of his seventeen years. “I wouldn’t trust anything that friend of yours says,” he told his son. “What do you know about him anyway? Just up and rolled into town a year ago. Where did he come from? What drove him to come here?”

Chad could only stand there as his father railed at him. He didn’t know the answer to these questions. Bart had never been one to talk about his past. He and Riyan had always respected that and never pried into it.

“I think it’s a good solution,” Chad insisted.

His father turned to him and said, “No! You are not to think about this any more. The new grinding wheel will be here by the end of the week. All the arrangements have been made.”

“So you’ve already sold the mill to the magistrate?” he asked.

“I’m not selling the mill,” his father replied. “Merely getting a loan to cover the cost of the new wheel.”

“You’ll never be able to pay him back,” Chad said. “It amounts to the same thing.” His father’s face turned red in anger. “I’m through talking about this,” he said with finality. “The subject is closed.” He glared at his son until Chad finally left the mill.

When Bart finally arrived, he found his friend still in the vicinity of the mill. Chad didn’t see him right away, so engrossed was he with his thoughts. “You ready?” Bart asked him.

Chad’s eyes turned to his friend. “He won’t even consider it!” he exclaimed.

“Your father?” guessed Bart.

Chad nodded. “He said, ‘Nothing ever good came from magic’.”

“So what do you intend to do now?” he asked. He could see the hard set of Chad’s jaw. “You aren’t planning on going against the wishes of your father are you?” Nodding, Chad replied, “Yes I am. If this can save our mill, we would be fools not to do it.” He saw the look in Bart’s eyes. “What?”

“Maybe you should respect your father’s wishes,” he said. “It’s his mill after all.”

“It’s our family’s mill,” Chad corrected him. “I’m not about to stand by and do nothing when there’s a way to save it.” When Bart failed to comment, he asked, “Are you still coming with me?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I doubt if you would be able to find Phyndyr’s place otherwise.”

“Good.” Leading Bart to where he and his family live, they bypassed the house and headed directly to the barn out back. They quickly got a couple horses saddled and Chad left Bart in the barn while he went up to the house. Secreted in his room was his stash of money that he intended to use in purchasing the scroll.

The sound of his mother in the kitchen reached him as he entered the front door. He closed it carefully so as not to alert her to his presence. He moved through the front room towards the hallway leading further into the house. The first doorway he came to led into the kitchen area and he paused there a moment. Peering around the corner, he saw that his mother’s back was to him as she worked on dinner.

Hurrying past the doorway, he moved down the hallway and entered his room, closing the door behind him. His secret stash was hidden under a loose floorboard that one of the legs of his bed rested upon. He pushed his bed over a few inches until the leg was off the board, then bent over and pried it up.

In his secret hiding place was a sack containing his life savings. Nestled in the compartment with the sack were several other items that held value for him. Chad took the sack out and placed it in his shirt before replacing the floorboard. Once it was set in flush with the floor, he pulled his bed back to its original position with the leg once again on top of the floorboard covering his stash. He got back to his feet, crossed the room, and opened the door.

“What are you doing?” His brother Eryl stood there in the hallway looking very curiously at him.

“Nothing,” he replied. “Doesn’t mother need help with dinner or something?” He stepped out of his room and closed the door behind him.

“No,” he said, “and father’s busy at the mill getting it ready for the arrival of the new stone.”

“Go bother someone else, Eryl,” Chad said as they stood there in the hallway. He turned to retrace his steps back down the hallway when he realized Eryl was following him.

“You’re up to something,” Eryl said with a grin.

Coming to a stop, Chad turned to his brother and said quietly so his mother wouldn’t hear, “No I’m not. Now go away.”

“Can I come?” he asked.

“What?” Chad replied. “Of course not.”

“Aha!” exclaimed Eryl in victory. “I knew it!”

“I’m not doing anything,” he insisted in a quiet voice.

“Then why are you talking so quietly,” countered Eryl. “Why don’t you want mother to hear you?” Then raising his voice loudly, he asked, “Because you’ll get into trouble?”

“Shhh!” urged Chad as he glanced down the hallway towards the kitchen. When their mother failed to make an appearance, Chad sighed.

“I’m coming too,” Eryl said. “Or I’ll tell mother.” Chad gazed into his eyes and could see the mischievous look that always foreshadowed him doing something that Chad would hate. Little brothers, sisters too for that matter, always have a way to annoy their older siblings. Giving in, Chad said,

“Alright. But you have to do what I say.”

“You bet,” agreed Eryl. Happy and excited now that he wrangled his brother into taking him along on whatever adventure he was planning, Eryl practically danced in anticipation.

“Just be quiet until we get out of the house,” Chad told him. When he received Eryl’s nod, he began heading back down the hallway. At the entrance to the kitchen, he paused momentarily to make sure his mother was still busy, then he and Eryl hurried past.

Bart looked questioningly at him when he and Eryl showed up at the barn together.

“He’s coming with us,” Chad explained.

“I don’t think it’s wise to take him all the way to Wardean,” Bart said.

“Wardean?” Eyes alight with the prospect of going to such a large town, he turned to his brother. “Is that where we’re going?”

“With just you missing,” Bart said, “your parents would only be a little worried. But him?” Indicating Eryl he added, “They’ll be positively frantic.”

“If we don’t take him, he’ll tell my mother and then the whole thing would be off,” Chad countered.

Bart rolled his eyes heavenward. “Sibling blackmail.” Then he turned his attention back to Chad and said, “At least leave them a note or something so they won’t worry.”

“Alright,” agreed Chad. Getting a fairly smooth board from the scrap pile, he wrote in charcoal:

Went for a ride with Bart, took Eryl. Back after dark.

When he showed it to Bart he asked, “Will this do?” Nodding, Bart replied. “Yes. But there will still be hell to pay when you get back.”

“Not if the stone is fixed I won’t,” he said.

“What’s going on?” asked Eryl.

Chad turned to his younger brother and said, “I’ll fill you in on the way.” Then he and Bart mounted the horses then Chad gives his brother a hand in swinging up behind him.

They rode quickly from the house and entered the hills surrounding Quillim until they intersected the road.

Once on the road heading out of town they were soon up to a canter and Quillim disappeared behind them. Eryl was having the time of his life riding behind his brother.

In all his seven years, the times he had been more than a couple miles from home could be counted on one hand. And to top it off, his parent’s were not with them. All he had to deal with was his brother. Chad, even with all his older brother bossiness, was still a whole lot better to deal with than his mother and father would be. They rarely let him have any fun.

Chad filled him in on what they planned to do soon after they were on the main road that traveled north and south along the foothills of the Western Mountains. This road was very well maintained and they were able to make good time.

As the sun arced overhead, Bart knew they were never going to make it to Wardean and back by sundown. Or even remotely close to sundown. But that wasn’t what was on his mind as they drew ever closer to the city of Wardean. His past was a tangled skein, and some of the worst of it had to do with the city they were heading toward.

Before he came to live in Quillim, he had vowed to himself never to set foot within the walls of Wardean again. Yet here he is, on his way. With any luck, they’ll be able to get in and out without anyone the wiser.

It was an hour away from sundown when the walls of Wardean came into view. They had pushed their horses hard to try and reach the city before the sun went down. For that’s when Bart said Phyndyr closed his shop.

“There she is,” Bart said as they rode closer.

“Wow,” said Eryl in wonder. He had never been to a city this large. Whenever his father had business here, he always took either Chad or his other brother Tye. “Isn’t this where Tye is seeing about his apprenticeship?”

“That’s right,” Chad replied. “I wish we had time to visit.”

“Why don’t we?” his brother asked.

“Need to return home before mother and father worry too much,” he explained.

“We’re already away longer than I had anticipated.”

“Too bad,” he said.

Beyond the wall they saw the Keep of the Border Lord where it sat like an indomitable fortress. Wardean is the Seat of Duke Yoric, the Border Lord given the task of keeping the goblins on their side of the mountains.

Bart took the lead when they reached the gates leading into the city. “Unless there is trouble nearby they keep the gates open throughout the night,” he explained.

“What kind of trouble could there be?” asked Eryl.

“Oh, goblins for the most part,” he replied. “Though ever since Duke Yoric became the Border Lord hereabouts, they’ve been fairly quiet. Haven’t been seen on this side of the mountains for years.”

Once through the gates, Bart led them quickly through the streets. The light was fading fast and if they didn’t get there in time, they risked the unpleasant choice of either staying the night or returning home empty handed. “It isn’t far,” Bart said as they turned off the main thoroughfare and down a side street.

Half a block down, Bart indicated a two story building coming up on their left. It looked rather formidable, with only slits for windows that were far too narrow for even a small child to squeeze through. The face of the building had but a lone door that stood open. Thick and strong, it would take a lot of punishment before it failed.

Bart noticed the way they were looking at the building. He cracked a smile and said,

“It’s protected by magic too,” he replied. “Only one thief has ever tried to sneak in since it was built.”

“And what happened to him?” Chad asked.

“The exact details no one talks about,” he told them. Dismounting, he turned to glance at them and said, “But there’s a skull over the door on the inside that is rumored to belong to the thief.”

“Really?” asked Eryl.

“So the story goes,” Bart replied. He wrapped his horse’s reins to the post out front and then waited for the two brothers to dismount and do the same. Then he turned and led them up to the open door.

Just as they reached the door, a middle aged man appeared from the other side. “Oh I’m sorry,” the man said when he saw them approaching, “but I am closing now. You’ll have to come back in the morning.”

“Couldn’t you stay open for just a few more minutes?” asked Bart with a grin.

Phyndyr turned his head towards Bart and was just about to tell him ‘no’ when he stopped. “Well, Bartholomew Agreani, as I live and breathe,” he said in astonishment as a smile came to his face. “I haven’t seen you for over a year.”

“Good to see you too Phyndyr,” replied Bart. He then indicated Chad and said, “My friend here is in dire need of a scroll to fix a cracked grinding wheel for his father’s mill up in Quillim.”

“Quillim?” he asked. “Is that where you’ve been?”

“Sort of,” he replied. “Now, can you help him?”

“Oh, very well,” he said. Stepping back into the building he allowed Bart, Chad and Eryl to enter. Then he closed the door and locked it. With a single word he caused a dozen candles set about the room to burst into light.

“Wow,” exclaimed Eryl. “Are you a magic user?”

Phyndyr smiled at the boy. “Not really, no. I just know a few simple cantrips.” They found themselves in an average sized room with three wooden tables, each surrounded by six chairs, spaced evenly around the room. Another door leads from the room across from the one they had just passed through. Eryl turned to look above the front door and saw a human skull mounted there. His eyes widened then he glanced to Bart who just grinned.

Phyndyr indicated the closest table and said, “Have a seat.” He sat down on one side of the table while the three boys sat on the other. Turning his attention to Chad, he asked,

“What exactly do you require?”

“Last night there was an earthquake,” he explained. “It was pretty bad and when we went to the mill in the morning, we found a crack in the upper grinding wheel. Bart told me you might have a scroll that would repair the crack?” Phyndyr nodded. “I have several such scrolls that could possibly help you young man.” He then began asking questions about the size of the wheel, the length of the crack, and so forth. When he finished the questioning, he grew silent for a moment.