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

the day there were rarely any customers, though usually there was a class teaching the children of Quillim their letters and numbers. It had been canceled due to the snow. It was hard enough to get a child to stay focused on a regular day. But with a deep blanket of snow, forget it.
    One lone figure sat at a table against the back wall. It was easy to recognize him as the man who had paid her a visit. He was six feet and muscular. Dark hair with piercing brown eyes, his appearance did little to put the two ladies at ease.
    When he saw them standing by the door, he came to his feet and gestured for them to come over. He broke into a friendly smile as they drew near his table. “I’m glad you came,” he said. Then he glanced to Elle and asked. “And you are?”
    She extended her hand. “Elle Kelon,” she replied.
    “Ah,” he said as he took her hand and gave a slight bow over it, “Chadric’s mother.” After releasing Elle’s hand, he said, “My name is Daniel Sanderson.”
    The smile that had come to her at him honoring her hand disappeared the moment he said who she was. The fact that a stranger knew who she was didn’t set well with her. “How do you know my son?” she asked.
    Instead of replying, he gestured to two of the vacant seats at his table, “Please have a seat.”
    Kaitlyn glanced to Elle, both were confused and a bit nervous of this man.
    The man waited until they were seated in their chairs before he sat in his. “As to your question,” he began, “I have never met either of your sons.”
    “Mr. Sanderson, how do you know so much about them then?” Kaitlyn asked.
    He didn’t answer right away. Reaching into his pouch, he pulled forth a copper coin. Holding it up before Kaitlyn and Elle, he asked, “Have either of you seen a coin like this before?” He rotated it so they could see the figure portrayed on one side and the symbol engraved on the back.
    Kaitlyn looked at it then shook her head no. Elle did the same. “Why? Should we have?” Kaitlyn asked.
    The man returned the coin to his pouch. “A few months ago, your sons sold a quantity of such coins to a man who fences stolen items,” he explained.
    Elle’s eyes widened. She remembered the gold coins Chad had given them after the debacle with the grinding wheels. She glanced to Kaitlyn and saw that she, too, remembered the time just before they disappeared for a month.
    “They said they had found gems while camping in the mountains,” Elle said.
    “Are they in some kind of trouble?” asked Kaitlyn.
    “Not at the moment, no,” he replied. “But if word of what they did reached the wrong people, they could be.” He could see the fear for their sons growing in their eyes. Inwardly, he smiled.
    He let what he said sink in for a few seconds before adding, “There are some who believe they stole the coins.”
    “My Riyan is no thief!” Kaitlyn said, a bit more forcefully than she had intended.
    “Neither is Chad,” asserted Elle.
    “But why else would they sell the coins to someone who is known for dealing in stolen merchandise?” he asked. “If they had found them legitimately, say buried somewhere, then why wouldn’t they have sold them to a dealer in rarities. They would surely have fetched more gold that way. Such questions cast serious doubt upon their actions.”
    “I don’t know what…” Elle began defensively with a touch of anger before Kaitlyn stopped her with a look.
    Kaitlyn turned to the man and asked, “Why are you here?”
    “When word reached me about this situation,” he explained, “I immediately realized the serious repercussions that could fall upon your two boys.” The man paused a moment, he could see the worry and fear they felt for their sons in their eyes. “Either they stole the coins as some would believe, or they found them. If they found the coins, then by law, they must turn over twenty percent to Duke Alric. Which from the way things look, they didn’t.”
    Elle’s eyes got a