The Tree Shepherd's Daughter by Gillian Summers Read Free Book Online Page A

Sure did. I'm Keelie." She held out her hand
and the girl shook it. Her hand was cold and wet.
    "I'm Raven. My mom has the herb shop at the bottom
of the hill."
    "Raven. Cool name."
    The girl shrugged. "It's a liability in business classes.
Nobody takes you seriously."
    "What business classes do you take?"
    "I go to NYU in Manhattan. You?"
    "Rising junior in high school. I'm from Los Angeles. I
plan to go to law school at UCLA."
    "Cool. Having urban withdrawal?"
    "In the worst way. How do you stand all the medieval
weirdness?"
    "I grew up on the Faire circuit. I kind of like it. It's
home. But I love Manhattan."
    Manhattan. Mom had been there several times on business and had promised to take Keelie some day.
    "Do you know where the Shire is?"
    "I was heading that way now. Big party. Want to come?"
    At last things were going her way. A new friend, a college business major no less, and she knew where the party
was. "Sure, love to."
    Raven headed into the back of the shop.
    "Where are you going?" Keelie didn't think her new
friend should be wandering around her father's shop. Unless-but no, Zeke wouldn't go for someone that young.
She hoped.
    "Your dad keeps cloaks back here in the workshop.
Have you met Scott yet?"

    "Who's that?"
    "Zeke's assistant. You'll ... like Scott." She handed Keelie
a black hooded cloak, then helped her to fasten the big
hook at her neck.
    "Will he be at the party?" She pulled up the hood, feeling like a monk. A pair of worn hiking boots were propped
by the workshop door. Keelie stuck her bare feet in them,
glad they were dry.
    "You'd better hope not. Scott will tell your dad. He's
such a workaholic, though. He's probably asleep somewhere warm." Raven laughed and pulled her own hood
up. They headed out into the pelting rain.
    "Why would he tell my dad? Er, Zeke?"
    "He's such a suck up. And guaranteed, Zeke won't want
you partying with the Shire folk. It can get wild down
there."
    "Wild like how?" She thought of Sean, tangled in sheets
with some woman. Not Goldilocks. It hurt to even think
about that.
    "Drinking, wenching, fighting. The usual."
    "I met a cool guy earlier. Lord Sean o' the Wood. Know
him?"
    Raven stopped and gave her a Darth Vader look. "Yeah,
I know him."
    "
So-?.
    "So nothing. He's a jerk. And you won't see Lord High
and Mighty Sean or his kind at the Shire. They have their
own private campground."
    "Where's that?"
    "In the woods. You won't want to go there. They hate company. You think they're rude in public? Go knock on
their door."

    The path they followed went through a dark woods.
She held tight to Raven's cloak and in the other hand she
held the quartz. The unfastened boots flapped around her
ankles.
    "Raven, I can't see anything."
    "Don't worry, I've been this way a million times since I
was a kid. Just stay on the path. If you go into the woods
you won't know where you are until morning."
    Keelie shivered.
    "See the open space on the left?"
    "No, just dark and rain."
    "There's a big meadow there. First we cross the bridge.
Can you hear the stream?"
    "Nope. Just rain."
    "Listen, dumb ass."
    She heard a gurgle under the sound of the rain. "Okay,
I think I hear the stream."
    "Okay, once you hear it, the bridge is just ahead. Cross
the bridge, five steps. Then the meadow's on the left. Pass
the big stone. Fifty steps to the campsight. By then you'll
see the camp lights."
    They crossed the bridge, Keelie's boots clomping on
the planks and an echo coming from beneath.
    "Heartwood." The thin, reedy voice sounded like it was
coming from under them.
    Keelie yanked on Raven's cloak. "Did you hear that?"
    No.
    "Someone said my name."

    "You spook easily. I'll bet you're fun at a slasher film."
    "Mom said I was too young to see them. So we're going
to a party at the Shire?" The cloak surged forward, making
Keelie hurry.
    Light glowed yellow in the dark ahead. The rain had
lessened a little, and she could hear distant conversation.
    "Almost there.