The Kelpie's Treasure

Chapter 1 (1st Draft) 1490

"Darling," mother called to me in her sing-song voice as I came in through the mudroom door.

"Yes Mother?" I replied straight away while hanging up my cloak and bending down to unlace my boots.

"Darling, don't get undressed."

I left my partially untied laces and stood up to peak through the door into the kitchen. Mother was walking briskly toward me with a smile on her sainted face.

"What is it Mother?" I asked, curious to know why I was not to come in.

"Your aunt Emmi came by this afternoon. She has asked that you would come right away."

Mother reached out with both hands to take my face in them and to place a kiss upon my lips. She smiled warmly and her dark brown eyes held much love for me and, perhaps, just a dash of amusement. Whether she was amused by me or the aunts I could not readily say.

"You should hurry dear."

I gave her a grin and then bent down to re-lace my one partly undone boot. I loved to visit the aunts and I was particularly fond of being summoned urgently. My two aunts were always up to some mischief and I did sorely love to be a part of whatever nonsense they were getting into.

Grabbing my cloak, I fastened it around my neck and waved goodbye to my mother as I stepped out the mudroom door and into our little courtyard littered with hens. The hens scattered to the four winds as I took off at a run through the yard while gathering up my ankle length skirts and leaping over the little gate that lead out onto the public road. I paid the hens no mind. They would settle in again just as soon as I'd gone. 

Once on the road I struck out for Draper's field. It would take me almost half an hour to walk to my aunts' if I stuck to the main road, but only half that time if I cut across the field not far from home. Eager to know what the aunts had found, I got a running start.

These were my father two elderly aunts who lived together in a two-story stone cottage by the seashore on the outskirts of the village. They were the sweetest and silliest creatures that ever were. And they had two great loves - adventure and treasure.

I remember going on endless excursions with them as a child. They would often take me in a little paddle boat not fit for the sea and we would scull our way along the coastline looking for pirate ships and sunken treasure. Or, they would find a map stuffed in an old chest and convince me that it lead to riches right in the little woods beside their home where we three would strike off to find the spot marked X. On rainy days they would take me up to their dusty little attic and we would go through all the trunks – those great and those small – looking for a long forgotten fortune in gems, coins and bobbles.

The truth was, since I was a tiny little tot, my two aunts had spent most of their free time looking for treasures only their imaginations could conjure up.  There was never a dull moment to be had with them and even though I was no longer a girl anymore, I had not lost the wonder they had instilled in me all those years treasure seeking.