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

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