Page 5 of Secrets of the Lore Keepers
“How’s our guest?” Maraini asked around a mouthful of bread.
My eyes drifted toward the barn. “The potion worked. He’s alive, and should heal quickly, but. . . there’s one problem.” My brow furrowed. “His memory is gone. I’m not sure he even knows his own name.”
Maraini raised her eyebrows. “Gone? But how far gone is his mind? Is he like a newborn babe?”
I chewed my lower lip. “I don’t think so but I did not speak long with him.” My thoughts went to the blade, but for some reason, I didn’t want to tell Maraini about it. “He asked if anyone had followed him here, and I told him no. But we did not sense his presence on our land. Why is that?”
“Do you mean the wards of protection? We have not conducted the ritual this year and it’s time we did it again. I haven’t forgotten Sasha’s warning.”
I finished my sandwich and brushed crumbs off my skirt. “I haven’t forgotten either. I think knowing this land is protected would impress him.
“Oh, you wanted to impress him, huh?” Maraini giggled at me. Actually giggled.
I narrowed my eyes and glared at her.
“Rae, laugh, I’m only teasing!” she nudged my shoulder, then held up the book.
“Spells & Such,” I read out loud. “Ah, so you are brushing up on your knowledge.”
Maraini’s brown eyes turned somber. “Aye, and there’s probably a recipe for a memory spell inside. The sooner the stranger heals, the sooner he can leave and our days can return to normal.”
Leave? My curiosity deflated. Just when something interesting was happening, he’d leave and my life would return to the humdrum melody it played, leaving me with too much time to get lost in my own thoughts. I picked at the mud on the hem of my skirt.
Maraini lay out the book and pressed down the pages, reading through the table of contents. “Ah. There isn’t a memory spell in here but look, here’s the spell of protection.”
Swirling handwriting caught my eye, and the picture of herbs. “Sage.” I pointed.
“Aye, and salt.” Maraini pointed to the bowl pictured on the second page. “And a chant. We are to walk the length of our land, sprinkling salt and sage and chanting. Then when it’s done, and every inch is covered with salt and sage, we shall be protected.”
“What if someone comes and steps over it?” I asked.
“That’s what the chant is for.” Maraini pointed to a tiny description. “It’s an invisible barrier, and if anyone steps over it, we’ll know.”
“Anyone with ill will? Or anyone at all?” I prompted for clarity.
Maraini squinted down at the words. “That, I’m not sure.” She put down the book, closed it, and stared out at the fields.
I followed her gaze and saw our garden, the green plants at waist height, some taller, others shorter. I saw the weeds sprouting up, choking some plants while a lazy vine twisted through them. Doing a spell of protection around our property meant we’d have to delay harvesting the garden. But everything was set. A day’s delay wouldn’t matter, but everything else we did meant something else would have to wait.
I stared around the land and saw it in fresh eyes. The roof on the chicken coop needed replacing, the garden needed weeding; the goats were—well, where were the goats? If they’d escaped and were eating someone else’s garden, we’d never hear the end of it. We were ill-prepared for market day in two days. Picking and packing and prepping the wagon would take hours, not to mention the stranger. Overwhelm flooded me as though my head were underwater.
“I was thinking.” Maraini twisted her hands together. “We need to read Mother’s journals for other spells. Particularly one regarding memories.”
I drew a sharp intake of breath but couldn’t keep the hiss from leaving my lips. “Are you suggesting?”
“I think it’s about time. She passed so much on to us, but I can’t remember all of it, and you know how she liked to take notes. Everything is written down.”
I pressed my lips together. “It’s just a stranger we found in the meadow. . .”
Maraini shook her head. “Rae, it’s notjustthe stranger. I’ve been thinking of this for a while, ever since Sasha. She mentioned the old goddess. . .”
A ripple of discomfort went through me. The old goddess. I pushed the swirl of dark feelings away. I didn’t want to know. Maraini was still speaking.
“I know you don’t listen in the marketplace, or read like I do, but there are stirrings, unrest, and odd tales that trickle down. They are tales about the wildwood, and the dangers spilling out of it. Something happened almost three years ago, and while the effects are slow, they are affecting people in surrounding villages.”
Her knowledge of these things jolted me, and my mouth grew dry as I stared at my sister. Her gaze remained locked on the garden, but her eyes were unseeing.
“Tell me your plan, what should we do?” I asked, breathless.
