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

Andre's voice had been mild, but Lewys heard the underlying steel. He also saw the glowing look of confidence and trust Rebecca had given Andre. Lewys remembered seeing the same expression on his daughter's face when she looked at her husband. He sighed in recognition. "You sound like Maxton," he said.

"Who was Maxton?" Andre asked.

"He was my father," Rebecca told him, smiling. "It's a compliment. Say thank you."

"Thank you," Andre said.

Sometime after they had left the keep, Selene and Tyrel were in the library reading when Sarsee Jinks brought in a folded message. "Draya, this came from the Trade Station. I was told the red seal meant it was urgent and should be opened at once."

She handed the paper to Selene who regarded it with mixed feelings. A message from the Trade Station usually meant more refugees had arrived. "Thank you, Sarsee Jinks," she said. "I will see this is given to Draya Catrin."

As soon as her hand touched the message her eyes silvered over, and she gasped.

Tyrel went over to her and guided her to a chair. "Tell me what you See," he said, taking her hands.

"Three Magi are chasing a girl. She is with child. She trips and falls. Another Magi is now in front of her. He sends lightning at the three chasing the girl, and they fall. He puts the girl on the Magi’s unicorns and they run away. There is so much blood—"

She gasped, and her eyes opened, returning to their normal gray color. "We need to tell Catrin. The girl's baby is coming soon."

She stood up a little unsteadily, and Tyrel put an arm around her. "Can you walk?"

"Yes. Oh, we need to hurry!"

They found Catrin in the infirmary treating one of Andre's swordsmen. She rotated his shoulder, and it popped back into place. After binding his arm to his chest, she told him sternly, "Don't use that arm again until I say you may. You are of no use if you dislocate it again."

As soon as he had left the room, Selene thrust the message at her sister and blurted out. "Catrin you need to go to the waiting cabin. This just came from the Trade Station. There is a woman there giving birth—"

"What?" Catrin unfolded the message, frowning. Lewys and Trebottom used a code made of symbols to communicate about the refugees. The seal was red, meaning this one was urgent.

"How do you know about the woman?" she asked.

"She had a vision," Tyrel said. "Magi were fighting, and one rescued the girl from the three who were chasing her. Selene thinks the girl is waiting in the cabin."

"If she is in labor now, she won't be able to ride. I'll need a travois slung between two unicorns to bring her here. You two run down to the stables and tell them I want my mare saddled, and two of the calmest unicorns they have. I will also need a blanket, some leather strings and two long poles."

Catrin pulled her traveling bag from a shelf and packed it with her birthing items. She thrust in some rags to be used as a diaper, and just in case the woman was too weak to feed the child, she pulled several tins of condensed goats milk, a small glass bottle and a leather nipple used to feed infants.

There were several trails  led to the cabin where refugees were to wait, but Catrin took the most direct one. The cabin was just inside Ironlyn's extended Wards. The entrance to the canyon where it lay was disguised from outside the Wards with spells and natural barriers. Attached to the one room cabin, was a shed with feed for animals. The one room cabin had been furnished with cots and food supplies.

As she dismounted in front of the cabin, she heard a moan from inside.

"I don't know what to do for you, Sylvie," a man's voice said. The desperation in his voice told Catrin all she wanted to know.

She opened the door and walked into the cabin. "Then it is a good thing I came prepared, because I do," she said.

The man whirled, defensive magic crackling from his hands. He was young, maybe a little older than Catrin, tall, with a wiry build, shaggy blond hair, dark blue eyes and a ragged beard.

"Stop  nonsense at once," Catrin ordered seeing the Magi sparks on his hands. "Boil me some water while I check on—Sylvie, is it?"

"Yes," the girl said. She looked up into Catrin's face. "You are a healer?"

"'s right. Now, lets get you out of these clothes so you have room to birth your child. You, whatever your name is—once you've started the water to boil, go outside and put my unicorns in the shed. We may be here a while."

Logan Silvermane, rescuer of young girls, dangerous Wild Magi for hire, and just now a fugitive from the Magi Proctors, stared at Catrin in shock. Despite his anxiety over his companion's condition, when Catrin entered the cabin and started ordering him around, his entire world turned over. She was magnificent. He simply stared.

"Well?" Catrin demanded. "Get moving or the child will be here before we're ready!"

Silently, he did as he was told. When he returned from stabling the unicorns, he found Sylvie propped up with rolled blankets against the headboard on the cot, with her knees raised and a blanket covering her lap. Catrin had put a clean sheet under her and laid her trousers on a second cot against the wall. The birthing tools were set out on a clean cloth on the table. Steam rose from the kettle on the fire. A small blanket and cloth for diapers were ready on a second cot beside Sylvie's trousers.

"I have put the unicorns in the shed, Draya," he said. "My name is Logan Silvermane. This is Sylvie Whitemyr."

"My name is Catrin Mabinogion. Is the child yours?"

"No. Sylvie and I grew up together. Our families were part of a village who were secretly Magi. When I was ten, someone