Read Online Quest's End: The Broken Key #3 by Brian S. Pratt - Free Book Online

suddenly exclaimed.
    “What?” asked Bart as he turned to his friend.
    “Look over there,” Riyan said, pointing down a side street.
    Bart and the others turned to find a ten wagon caravan slowly making its way along through the snow. “What idiot would take wagons out in weather like this?” Chyfe asked.
    “I suppose there’s a profit to be made,” commented Chad, “especially when most of the other caravans are waiting for the spring thaw to resume trading.”
    Riyan just shook his head. If it wasn’t for the fact that time was running out to win Freya, he wouldn’t have braved such weather himself. But come summer, her wedding with Rupert will take place unless they find the King’s Horde and he can change her father’s mind.
    Bart and Chyfe took the lead as they left the outskirts of Hunter’s Reach. A mile out of town, they came to where a wagon’s width of snow had been removed from the center of the road and placed to the right.
    “How did this come about?” Chyfe asked. He could see where a lane of cleared snow came from their right, turned onto the road, then continued ahead of them into the distance. It was of uniform width throughout its entire length.
    “I don’t know,” replied Bart. “But it will make for faster going.”
    They moved into the cleared swath and continued down the road. A few miles further ahead, the mystery as to how the cleared swath had come to be was solved. Coming their way was a man riding a sled being pulled by a four horse team. The sled wasn’t a normal, run of the mill sled. Instead, it had a slanted front that angled to the right with iron reinforcing the leading edge. As the sled moved along, it scraped snow from the road and pushed it to the side.
    Bart was greatly impressed by the ingenuity that had gone into the sled. When he came closer, he saw that the back of the sled held four large logs. Coming to a stop, he greeted the driver of the sled.
    “Good day to you,” he said as the driver came abreast of him.
    “Whoa there,” the driver said to his team as he pulled back gently on the reins. Coming to a stop, he glanced to Bart and then the others. “Good day to you as well,” he replied.
    Bart gazed at the sled and said, “That’s an odd sled you have there.”
    The driver grinned. “There isn’t another like it in the world,” he said. “Made it myself.”
    “Why?” asked Chad. “I’ll agree that it clears the snow away well enough, but why go to the bother? Won’t it melt soon enough?”
    “Sometimes it does,” answered the driver. “Sometimes it doesn’t.” He gestured behind him then continued speaking. “I have pastures down there where I raise cattle. At times I need to bring them closer to home, especially in weather like this. I found that if I make a path with my sled, the cattle follow it without hesitation.”
    Bart nodded. “That makes sense,” he said.
    “I’m surprised the town doesn’t hire you to clear their streets for them,” Soth said. “From the amount of cursing we heard from those out in it, they’d probably pay you pretty good to get rid of it for them.” Seth nodded agreement.
    The driver’s eyes lit up as if he hadn’t even considered the possibility. “I might just do that good sir,” he said.
    Bart gestured to the logs sitting in the back of the sled. “What are those for?” he asked.
    Glancing back to the logs, the driver grinned. “When I first constructed my sled, it didn’t work all that great. Instead of pushing the snow to the side, my sled would be the one being pushed. After I added the logs to give it more weight, the snow no longer pushed my sled aside. Four logs are the best number. Any less and my sled begins skewing to the side, and any more will quickly tire my horses.”
    “You are truly an ingenious man,” Riyan said. Then he gave the driver a nod. “Good luck with your cattle.”
    “Thank you sir,” the driver replied. “You have a good day too.” With a flick of the