In The Beginning Gail Daley (best books to read all time TXT) 📖

Lorkeet looked a little startled but he smiled. "You are a careful man, Dracon."

"Yes, I am," Lewys agreed. "I’d like to see the goats before I talk any deals."

Lorkeet nodded. "We are camped just over the hill there. We can go now if you want."

"He’s alone, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a trap," Andre warned. "He could have a crew waiting over there."

Lewys nodded, and looked at his grandson.

"Owen?" he asked.

Owen shook his head. "I don’t feel anything hostile from him."

Lewys stroked his chin. "I see. Well, I think you and Andre will stay here just in case. Tobias and I will go and look at goats."

While they were saddling the unicorns, Owen saw Andre go to the wagon and retrieve his needle gun and a sword which he belted on in addition to the long knife he always wore. Owen decided to imitate the example and went to the wagon shared by the men for his own crossbow and needle gun. Seeing the weapons, Andre nodded approvingly.

He signaled Owen and the pair of them slipped out of the firelight to make a round of the camp as Lewys and Tobias rode out. "Do you think someone is out here?" Owen asked.

"You can't tell?"

Owen shook his head. "I have to be pretty close to a person to be able to get a reading on their intentions from them. I'm a better animal trainer. That's my special talent," he confessed.

"You all have different talents?"

"We can all do the general stuff like setting a ward, but yes, our big talents are all different. Grandpa and Rebecca's is fire and Catrin's is healing."

Andre held up a hand and pointed at Blackfeather and the unicorn mares who were stamping nervously. "When you're in the field, you should pay attention to your unicorn. They have a better sense of smell and night vision than we do. You see the way they're acting? The unicorns think something is out there, and I don't think its Lorkeet or his people. See how they keep looking back toward the road from the village? It might be an animal, but it could be human too. Let's make a circle around the camp."

What the unicorns heard was human. As Andre and Owen finished their circle, a small group of riders trotted right up to their wagons and stopped.

Behind her, Rebecca heard Selene gasp in fear. She moved so her body partially shielded the girl, reaching back to grasp her hand.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Rebecca demanded, very much the haughty Draconi. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Owen moving into position behind the riders with the bolt drawn on his crossbow. When Andre came up to stand between them and the men, she relaxed.

"It's going to be fine, you'll see," she whispered to the girl. "Andre will take care of it."

"I’m Korman, the Sheriff of Wintermere, and I’m looking for a fugitive," the short, round man in the front announced.

"You didn't stop at the Station to check yourselves in. That is a violation of Station Protocol. Approaching a camp at night without warning is a good way to get dead, Sheriff," Andre drawled. "We don’t have any fugitives here. Just our family, our workers and their families."

"So you say. I’m going to search the camp anyway," the Sheriff said. "She could be hiding in one of the wagons."

"She? It takes five men to hunt a woman?" Andre asked disdainfully. "Sheriffs are a lot tougher where I come from."

"She’s not a woman, she’s a kid and she’s Magi," the Sheriff said. He and the others dismounted.

"About the age of her," a townsman in rich clothes said, indicating Selene, who shivered.

"She is my little sister," Rebecca snapped, putting a protective arm around Selene. "You leave her out of this!"

When one of the men started to approach the nearest wagon, Owen shot a crossbow bolt into the ground, narrowly missing the man's foot. "There’s more where that came from," he called cheerfully from the shadows. The man backed up nervously, looking to the Sheriff for guidance.

"If you’re looking for a Magi," Andre said, "Where is the Magi Proctor? You have no jurisdiction without one. I would advise you to mount back up and leave."

The tone of his voice made Sheriff Korman take another, more careful look at Andre. When he did, he took a mental step back. Despite the soft clothes and herdsman's hat, it was obvious this man hadn’t always been a Traveler. He was too sure of himself when confronting armed men. Andre’s hand rested lightly on his hip, within easy reach of the needle pistol, and his sword and knife, in their well-worn sheaths had seen plenty of service. Everything about Andre shouted 'Merc' to the Sheriff, and he wavered. He had no lust to take on a trained Merc. He knew as the leader of the posse, he would be a trained fighter's first target in a fight. Damn that Sorris for a meddling busybody. He hadn’t wanted to come all this way out here anyhow, he thought bitterly.

The decision was abruptly taken out of his hands. There came the thunder of heavy unicorn hooves, and Lewys rode smack into the middle of the dismounted riders, who scrambled to get out of the way. He wheeled the massive golden stud around to face them, not caring if the posse was trampled in the process.

"What the devil is going on here?" he roared, in his best Lord of the Manor voice.

Behind Andre, Rebecca put an arm around the shaking Selene's shoulders.

Being dismounted was a distinct disadvantage. The Sheriff was forced to look up into Lewys’ face. "I am Sheriff Korman of Wintermere. We are here in search of a wanted Magi."

"A girl about her age," the overdressed townsman pushed his way forward and started toward Selene. He stopped, backing off hastily when he found ten inches of fighting blade in his face, held by Andre