Free Shepherd's Quest: The Broken Key #1 by Brian S. Pratt

away,” he said a bit nervously. “I, um, really have to get that stump out.”
    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