In The Beginning by Gail Daley (top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT) 📕

a Trade Store offering a variety of items and services; feed for animals, bath houses and places to wash clothes. A Trade Station family usually received a stipend from the Shahen. They made what profits they could from fees for the goods sold in the Trade Store, using the bath and wash houses, or in some cases renting rooms. Coverville Station had a store that sold a few staples such as canned goods, blankets, pots and pans and such.

Trade Caravans might stay at a Station for a week, selling things they brought, trading with the villagers, and sometimes putting on entertainment for the town. A caravan could be small, only four or five wagons or more than twenty. A few of the more famous ones boasted twenty different wagons. Trade caravans were usually run by families or groups who traveled from village to village and made a living buying and selling goods or services. Depending on their wares, most caravans had regular stops where they were expected at certain times of each year. A lone Traveler could sometimes pay a passage fee and journey along with them as a part of the group, which was safer than traveling alone.

When they arrived at the Station, Owen and Andre set up the temporary rope corral to contain the unicorn herd. To keep them from attacking each other, the stallions were picketed separately, on either end of the two wagons.

When Rebecca went to the Trade Station to pay the fee for access to the facilities, Andre went with her, casually catching her hand in his. This Trade Station was run by an older man and his wife. Sarsee Tomilson the wife, a plump, gray haired matron, smiled knowingly at their clasped hands.

"Newlywed or courting?" she asked comfortably.

Rebecca blushed. "Uh—we’re not married."

"Ah, courting then," Sarsee Tomlinson said.

"Engaged," Andre said firmly.

"Where are you folks traveling to?" her husband asked.

"Ironlyn," Rebecca said.

"I see," Tomilson said, withdrawing slightly. "You the new Dracon?" he asked Andre.

"That would be my grandfather," Rebecca corrected, handing him the coins.

Several more families of Travelers arrived at the Station as the day wore on, parking their wagons or setting up tents along the circle designated for that purpose. Animals were expected to be kept outside the circle. Lewys made it a point to meet each of the new arrivals as they came in, taking either Owen or Andre with him as he encountered them. Most of those they met here were simply families or single men traveling on business, who were glad to get news from outside the area. In turn, Lewys asked them about the surrounding country and about Buttersea, the next village on the way to Ironlyn. When that village was mentioned, several of the men looked over their shoulders, and finally one of them, braver than the others, said, "I wouldn’t go there, if you can avoid it."

"Why not?" asked Andre alertly. "What’s wrong there?"

Two of the men, brothers who were going to visit their relatives in Glassfall, exchanged glances. "We don’t know for sure," one of them said. "But we hear rumors some of the folk who go there don’t come back, or are robbed."

"By the village?" asked Lewys.

Jorgon, the other brother, frowned. "I don’t think so. The story I got was it happens outside of town."

"Yes, but I heard some of the stolen goods ended up for sale in the shops," one of the others chimed in.

Lewys nodded thoughtfully. "Thank you for the warning. We will be on our guard."

After dinner, one of the men who had been a part of the discussion came over to their fire. Sorson Tobias was a tall, gangly man with an open face. "Dracon Mabinogion, I have a favor to ask," he said diffidently.

"What is it, Sorson Tobias?"

"First, may I ask if you still intend to go through Buttersea?"

Lewys nodded curtly. "We must. It’s on the road to Ironlyn."

The man took a deep breath. "Well, you see, my family is traveling that way too, and I was hoping we could travel together. I’ve heard it’s safer to travel in a larger group. I have only the one wagon for myself, my wife and our young son."

"How far are you going?" inquired Andre, watching him closely.

"Until I find work," Sorson Tobias said. "I’m a bricklayer and I’m hoping there will be work in Snowdon, the next village beyond Buttersea."

"We would love to meet your wife and child," Rebecca said softly. "It must be hard traveling this way with a young one."

"Yes," agreed Lewys. "Why don’t you bring her over now?"

The man nodded and left.

"Thank you, Rebecca," her grandfather said. "That was well done. What do you think? Shall we let them travel with us?"

"Yes," both girls said.

"I want to meet the wife. If everything is as he says, it would make it safer for us also," said Andre.

"Owen?" his grandfather asked.

"I don’t feel anything harmful from him," Owen replied. Andre looked thoughtfully at the young man. This wasn't the first time he had heard Lewys ask Owen's opinion of someone's intention. It didn't take much to figure out Owen's Magi talent was a Feeler, a reader of people and animals.

Sarcee Anja Tobias turned out to be a pretty young woman who looked tired. The little boy was a dark-haired moppet with curious blue eyes. His mother had wrapped a belt around the child and attached a short rope to it, one end of which she kept attached to her wrist. It was soon seen why this was necessary, as the child, Robern, immediately tried to escape his mother’s custody by darting away from her the moment his feet touched the ground.

It rained all the next day and the night before they were due to pass through Buttersea. There was no actual Trade Station around Buttersea, but an open ground under a grove of maconut trees just past the village was designated for Travelers. The trees provided some protection for the three wagons. The normally peacefully gurgling creek a little way inside the grove