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

"You’ve been told who she is," Andre said softly. He stared directly into the townsman’s eyes, his own gone flat and hard.

"Sorris! Stand down!" the Sheriff shouted, correctly interpreting how close to death the townsman was.

Sorris backed away from Andre before turning on Korman, blustering to hide his embarrassed fear. "See here, Korman, if you won’t do anything to find the girl, I will. I think these people are hiding her. I bet I have a flyer on them too. Look at this!" he thrust a sheet of paper under Korman’s nose.

Korman sighed. "Sorris, this plainly describes a party of four people. I count at least twice that number here. Get back on your unicorn before I decide to let this young man split you like a roasting bird. The rest of you mount up also," he added, going to his own mount.

"Sorry for the intrusion—" he waited for Lewys to supply the name.

"Dracon Lewys Mabinogion of Ironlyn," he was informed.

"Dracon Mabinogion, my apologies to you and your family," Korman said, reflecting sourly as he left, that he had probably just offended the Dracon of one of the strongest keeps in the area. Ironlyn was on the coast and a long way from Wintermere, but the nobility had lingering memories.

As soon as the posse disappeared into the darkness, Selene jumped off her stool and threw her arms around Andre, sobbing, "Thank you."

Hastily moving his knife before she impaled herself on it, he patted her shoulder awkwardly. "It's okay, they've gone. You are safe with us." Sheathing the knife, he looked helplessly at Rebecca, who came and kissed his cheek.

"You were wonderful," she told him smiling. "I knew you would keep us safe."

"Hey!" her grandfather protested. "What about me? Didn't I help too?"

Catrin laughed. "Yes, Grandpa, you're wonderful too, and so is Owen. Thank you."

Fortress Of Power

AS THEY MOVED CLOSER to Ironlyn, the towns became further and further apart. Even without the herd of goats and five additional wagons to slow them down, the last village they passed through was more than three weeks travel the from Ironlyn Trade Station. The keep itself was on the edge of the border separating Askela from the neighboring kingdom of Jacite.

Ironlyn Keep was set into a mammoth, steep-sided mesa, gradually disappearing into the plains spread out at its feet. Jagged, Lofty crags topped the red bluffs. Immense crimson walls pocked with narrow arrow slits looked out over the steppes. Colossal doors, at least three wagons wide and twice the height of a rearing unicorn, opened in the bottom of the cliff.

The dry, gray grasses of summer spread out from Ironlyn's feet, divided by a long white road ending at a well-traveled Trade Station before making the turn to take Travelers across the border into the neighboring kingdom of Jacite. Behind the Station, a smaller, less traveled lane ran all the way to the large doors allowing entrance to the keep and ended there.

The Trade Station was almost as large as any Village; it boasted a sizeable well-appointed Inn for travelers, a tavern, and a blacksmith shop. Outside the Trade Circle was a Messenger Facility with a large, well-kept bird cote. Plainly as well as having the usual amenities of a Trade Store, bath and wash houses, this Station was also a Messenger Center.

Two rows of colorful Traveler wagons parked inside the Station Circle. The Trade House itself was a little shabby and could have done with a coat of paint, but looked to be in good repair. A herd of longhaired cattle with wicked looking antlers grazed between the Trade Station and Ironlyn's gates. They were being kept under close watch by a group of riders.

Lewys, who was in the lead, held up a hand and the wagons following him stopped. Behind the wagons, which now numbered eight, Lorkeet's herd of shaggy, sharp horned goats milled around, tended by his clan and a passel of spotted herding dogs. The goatherds and their families looked in awe at the gate.

"There she is, girls," Lewys said. "Ironlyn Keep, our new home."

Selene gasped. "We’re to live there?"

Rebecca, beside her on the seat, dropped the reins of the four-unicorn team and sighed. "I guess so," she said.

"Big place," remarked Andre, who had stopped Blackfeather beside their wagon.

Todge Lorkeet, the head of the goat herders, trotted his zebra unicorn up to where Lewys sat. "Dracon," he said hesitantly, "the goats and the cattle I see over there will not get along well. Where would you like us to set up?"

"We aren't stopping at the Station, Todge. There are pastures and barns inside Ironlyn," he said.

"The doors are closed, Dracon. How will we get in?"

Lewys had opened his mouth to answer him, when a short wiry man on a thin grey unicorn galloped up. He wore the leather pants and soft shirt of a drover. His bearded face was shaded by a large, stiff-brimmed leather hat. He swept the hat off and bowed low from his saddle.

"I am Sorson Lindgren," he announced grinning out of his tanned face. "I assume you are Dracon Mabinogion?"

When Lewys nodded, he said. "Your cattle made the journey in good shape Dracon, but I fear they make the Travelers at the Station uneasy. Cattle do not like to be so closely confined. It is best we get them away from this place and out where they can run free before they cause harm." He cast a disparaging look at Lorkeet and his goats.

Lewys nodded. "Follow me," he called back, and set off towards the gates of Ironlyn, carefully detouring around the Trade Station area.

He dismounted at the gate and placed his hand into a niche carved in the shape of a man’s fist. He spoke a command and there was a small flash of light around the doors. Ponderously, they swung outward with a groan. Lewys remounted and rode back to the waiting group.

"All the wagons will go in first, followed by the unicorn herd,