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

and other things, our family is bitterly opposed to the Magi system. All of us are unregistered Magi, and we belong to a group who help Magi escape the Proctors. Now, after breakfast Catrin will bring you some warm water for washing and take you out to relieve yourself. For today, just rest and enjoy your breakfast. There are books over there in the chest if you would like to read."

"Novels?"

Rebecca smiled. "Yes, there are some there. Please help yourself to them."

The journey from Buttersea had been wet and miserable for everyone as the storm continued to pound the Travelers. They hadn’t been attacked outside the village; probably, Lewys had speculated aloud because not even outlaws wanted to go out in the rain. It continued to rain off and on for the next three days, turning the roads into quagmire. Rebecca kept Selene in the wagon. "I don't want her getting wet again," she told Anja, "I'm sure it was the dunking she got earlier that brought on her sickness."

The next two villages didn't have proper Trade Stations, so although they stopped long enough for Jerlyn Tobias to check about work the family didn't go into town. Unfortunately, there wasn't any work for Tobias, and one of the villages had a militant construction guild who didn't want the competition. So the Tobias family was still with the Mabinogions when they arrived at the Linhaven Trade Station.

"Is your sister Selene feeling well enough to join us for dinner?" Anja asked.

"That is a good idea," Catrin said. "She is getting tired of being stuck in the wagon all day. I’ll go and help her dress."

I hope she will manage to find the girl something to wear that fits her, Rebecca thought ruefully. Clothing was something she hadn’t taken into consideration when deciding to introduce the girl as family. When they appeared, Rebecca was pleased to see Catrin had obviously raided their Grandmother’s trunk for suitable clothes. Unlike her daughter, Angard had been a small woman, and the pink shirt and whipcord trousers fit Selene well enough. Catrin had even managed to dig out a pair of Gran’s old boots for the child.

Andre brought over a folding stool for her to sit on, which she accepted with a shy smile.

"Yes," Anja agreed, "That’s right dear. Spotted fever is nothing to fool around with. For tonight, you just sit and watch the rest of us work."

It was late afternoon when they made camp at Linhaven Trade Station. The sun had finally broken out of the clouds, and the air was beginning to warm up.

The journey had given Lewys time to evaluate Jerlyn Tobias. "Is bricklaying your only trade?" he asked him.

"Oh, my Jerlyn can do a lot of things," his wife said proudly. "He made all our furniture and fixed our neighbor’s well when it got fouled."

"Anja!" her husband protested. "They don’t want to hear all that."

"Yes I do," Lewys said. "As I understand it, Ironlyn has been neglected over the past few years, and most of the staff are gone. I’m going to need a man who is handy with tools. Would you consider working for us?"

"I would be honored, Dracon," Tobias said, bowing.

"Then let’s talk wages," Lewys suggested. "Step into my office." He indicated the spot by the fire next to himself.

The Mercs

BEFORE EVERYONE RETIRED for the night, Lewys took out a well-worn map and spread it on the fold out table attached to one of the wagon sides. Travelling with three wagons and a herd of unicorns slowed the journey. All the animals were beginning to show the effects of the long trek.

"If we follow the Travel Route we will miss Wintermere which is the next village, unless we want to make a detour."

"It would be better to skip it," Rebecca glanced at Selene. "Doesn't that mark mean the next station is on the Drover's Trail?"

"Yes, it does. We will stay there a couple of days. I think we need to stop and rest the unicorns," Lewys agreed. "because it's a waystation on the Drover's Trail Sandcrake Station has a good pasture for herds. We can stay there for several days."

"We're low on meat too," Andre remarked. "I saw pronghorn sign yesterday. If we stay long enough we can smoke the meat."

"You're very sure of getting a shot at one," Jerlyn remarked.

Andre shrugged. "Some of the work I did wasn't in towns. When you don't have a steady supply of food, you learn to hunt."

"Are you beginning to remember things Andre?" Lewys asked, his eyes wary.

Andre shrugged. "Bits and pieces mostly. I remember my early life, and my time in the Merc's pretty well, and I remember a fight in a town with a bunch of drovers coming off Jamboree, but after that, things are a blank."

Seeing the curious expressions on Jerlyn and Anja's faces, Lewys explained to the Tobias family, "Andre got a whack on the head several weeks ago. It affected his memory."

"We need to do some washing also," Catrin put in, changing the subject.

Two days later they reached Sandcrake Station. Because it was on the Drover's Trail, it was a well-appointed post. It only lacked an Inn to rival a village.

Lewys was frowning when he returned from meeting the Trade Master.

"What is wrong?" Rebecca asked.

"I'm not sure," her grandfather replied. "There is a copy of that wanted flyer Lazarus put out, along with others posted inside the store. It was being tacked up by a self-important little man when I came in. The Trade Master looked unhappy about it. He warned me the man came from Wintermere. Said he was always checking on who was using the Station in the hopes of collecting a reward for reporting them. Girls don't talk to him if a stranger approaches you."

Andre rousted Owen out of bed before daylight to hunt the pronghorns he had seen. Rebecca and Catrin cooked a breakfast of biscuits and gravy in the dark for the hunters.

"They come out to feed at dawn and dusk,"