Page 1 of Secrets of the Lore Keepers
Chapter One
The crackof thunder shattered the peaceful melody of birdsong. I dropped the basket of green herbs on the wooden table and dashed to the open window. Flinging back the white curtains, I stuck my head out and sniffed, inhaling a faint whiff of water and the vague, bitter spice of electricity. A jagged streak of lightning pierced the evening sky and my eyes went wide as saucers. I drew my head back inside and whirled, skirts flying.
“Maraini! Hurry! Get the lanterns, there’s a storm tonight!” I hollered at my sister.
Twisting my curls in a messy bun on top of my head, I lunged for the jars, almost tripping over the chicken that fluttered in the kitchen. Curses. I’d brought her inside to mend her torn wing. She’d escaped the henhouse and run into the paws of a fox. I’d meant to take her back to the henhouse, but I had forgotten. Now stray feathers dotted the floor, along with dust and dirt tracked in during my trips to and from the barn and garden. The table was covered with baskets of herbs, clothes that needed mending, and a pile of books. I sighed and tapped my foot with impatience. The house needed a proper cleaning, but I had no time, and Maraini was too deep in her ink and paper to bother with it. Stories and numbers were all that were in her head, and had always been, even before we took over the family business.
“Maraini!” I shouted again, tossing a blanket over one shoulder and placing the basket of jars by the door.
“Calm down, Rae, I’m coming,” she said in her smooth tone, as slow and deep as molasses. She appeared in the doorway, the picture of perfection while I hopped up and down, tugging on first one boot and then the other.
“Let’s go!” I wrenched open the front door and snatched up the jars. “You have the lanterns?”
Maraini laughed and shook her head, black braids flying. “I have everything, except the rain slickers. We’ll catch cold out there if we don’t cover up.”
“Ugh,” I groaned, halfway out the door and in the dried mud. Dust kicked up under my feet, for the ground was almost barren from lack of water. “Who cares, it’s the first rain this month and we can catch lightning! Lightning! Our luck as turned, you hear!”
I danced away, basket tucked under one arm as I twirled outside of our front step.
“Are you daft?” Maraini scolded as she pulled the door shut tight and hooked her arm through mine. She’d tossed a scarf over her head and hitched her skirts up with one hand. The lantern and two long poles were slung over her back. “Our luck has never turned bad, just because you don’t have all the unique items to sell at market doesn’t mean we have bad luck.”
“Oh posh.” I waved my finger in her face as best I could, since we walked side by side. “Just because you look at numbers all day doesn’t mean you know what luck is.”
Lightning lit up the sky enough for me to see the frown on my sister’s brown face. “We have plenty of money, if that’s what you mean.”
I gave an exasperated sigh. “Life isn’t all about money, what’s the fun in counting coin? Experience is what it’s all about, now come on. We don’t know how long the storm will last. I’ll race you to the meadow.”
I tugged my arm free and took off running while Maraini laughed. But I heard her pounding footsteps behind me and knew she enjoyed our risky gallivants as much as I did.
Five years, Maraini and I had run the family business. I was only a year younger than her, but full of vibrant life and energy, for pouring myself into the work helped me forget what happened. When I was only twenty, and Maraini, twenty-one, our parents left to travel and take a break from the busy life they’d led. They set us up young, and while we had wealth stored away—sacks of gold hidden in a secret hole near the garden—I still recalled their parting with remorse. They left the land, and had been killed. Whether by outlaws or the dangerous creatures that dwelled in the wildwood, we did not know.
We continued to run the family business without their guidance. For we had a reputation to keep in the nearby village, Capern, which bordered the enchanted wildwood. The wildwood was a place full of secrets, a place Maraini and I had been warned to stay away from all our lives. I was curious about it, but after what happened our parents, the spark of curiosity and the yearning for adventure died.
Besides, we had our hands full with the farm animals, the garden, plus the wondrous remedies and potions we could create out of herbs and roots.
Once we reached the middle of the meadow, a flat area with no trees about, we stopped, pulses thumping, to push the poles into the ground. No small feat since I’d forgotten the shovel, and the ground hadn’t been watered in weeks. I cursed, Maraini laughed and scolded, but finally we were ready, with the jars hooked on the end.
Maraini grabbed my hand, like we were five years old again, catching lightning with Papa for the first time. “Now stand back,” she whispered, fingers squeezing tight.
I couldn’t help but bounce on my toes as I watched the sky.
Maraini shook her head. “You never stand still, do you?”
“I can’t!” I squeaked. “It’s too exciting. We haven’t had lightning in forever!”
“Three months,” Maraini grumbled at my exaggeration.
“Whatever.” I bumped her shoulder. “What a treat for market day, they always sell the highest. What do you think people use them for?”
Maraini went still, too still. “Lightning is dangerous, and those who buy it often carry weapons. I assume they are dangerous people who use it for dangerous things.”
“Lighten up.” I giggled. “And don’t say dangerous again, you’ve used it three times in one sentence.”
Maraini frowned for half a second before breaking into a smile. She could never stay peeved with me for long.
A rumble of thunder shook the ground, and Maraini yanked me back. “The next one,” she whispered, her voice shaking with excitement.
Sure enough, lightning lit up the sky and sizzled up the poles, diving into our jars.
