Sarah's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Sarah counted her supplies at dawn. Three bundles of yarrow. Half a jar of willow bark. The wound salves would last another week if no one got careless with an axe. She closed the lid and reached for the old healer's journal, flipping to the entry she had read twenty times before. The birch bookcase outside her cabin held the journal and scrolls, protected under the eaves. She pulled the leather-bound book from between two glass bottles and opened it to the marked page. The entry described a herb that grew near standing water, with leaves that turned silver in moonlight. It could knit bone in days instead of weeks. The old healer had written coordinates, a season, and a warning about the deep woods. Sarah traced the ink with her finger. Two families needed her today—a child with fever, a man with an infected cut. After that, she would pack supplies and leave before sunset. The journal went into her satchel first.