The crisp morning air bit at my nose and I was glad when Tegan drew out a blanket from inside the basket. He draped it over my shoulders. “That Burke thinks of everything.”
I grasped the edges and wrapped the woolen blanket closer about me just as a chill breeze swept past us. The wagon hit a mild bump in the road and the whole thing rattled but continued on its steady path.
Ten minutes in and I already wasn’t having fun. “How far is the capital again?” I wondered.
“We should get there before nightfall, weather allowing and no stops taken,” Tegan told me as he leaned his back against one of the low walls. He lifted his gaze to our driver. “You’re welcome to our food, sir.”
Patrick shook his head. “Much obliged, but my misses set me out with enough meals for the whole trip and then some.”
The mention of his family brought a question to my mind. “How’s Finn doing?”
The father sighed. “He’s shaken up still after those wicked lights lured him that deep into the marshes, but he’s a good lad. He’ll get over it in time.”
“Have they ever acted that way before?” Tegan wondered.
Patrick shook his head. “Not that any of us can remember, and that’s including the old ones among us. They must have been desperate for souls to use my boy as they did.” I noticed his hands shook and he tightened his grip on the reins to stop them. “My kin took care to block off the unused paths last night so fewer people will wander in there and we posted signs to warn travelers of the danger. If those creatures thought to lure in more people then they will be sorely disappointed.”
I looked about us at the wide-open road. “Did people use to go through the marshes before this road was built?”
Our driver nodded. “It was the only way a hundred years ago. Then the road was built some eighty years ago and it was widened only last year.”
“I thought the road looked wider than before,” Tegan mused as he studied the path. “That would have encouraged even more people to avoid the marshes.”
I scooted backward and leaned my back against the wall opposite Tegan. “Why would anyone want to go in there now?”
“It’s a shortcut between properties and hunting grounds,” Patrick explained to me. “And anyone traveling north to south would find it easier to go through it than around.”
I caught Tegan’s eye. “There sure are a lot of dangerous places in this world.”
He smiled back at me. “I’ll have to show you some of the more wondrous ones.”
“Hardly anything more wondrous than Malartu,” Patrick mused as a smile slipped onto his lips. “It’s been around for well nigh five hundred years and I’ve heard it’s seen a lot of growth lately due to its exports of howlite.”
Tegan lifted an eyebrow. “To other werewolf settlements?”
He shook his head. “No, to one of the small human countries. Seems they’ve taken a fancy to the stone, flawed or not, and have been buying it up.” He twisted around and nodded at the sack tucked against the back of the seat. “I have some here that I hope will sell for a good price. It’s cracked stones the dwarves threw out onto their pits.”
“Do you recall which country has shown such interest?” Tegan asked him.
“I think it was Dimness because I need to find an agent of that country who is buying the stones,” he answered.
“And there’s a Key office in Malartu, too?” I spoke up.
He nodded. “Oh yes, and quite a large housing campus for holding their members.” He paused and turned his head around to study me. “You wouldn’t happen to be a witch, would you?”
I sheepishly grinned at him as I shrugged. “I’m working on it.”
He smiled and bowed his head. “You’re lucky then. Their members have free lodgings and food on that campus of theirs, though I’ve heard they have to earn their keep by taking up jobs that aren’t safe.”
“I’m only just starting, so I don’t think they’ll give me those kinds of jobs,” I assured him.
“So where’s your Key?”
I nodded at Tegan. “That’s him.”
Curiosity turned to surprise. “A dragon as a Key? Are you pulling my tail?”
I blinked at him before I looked from one man to the other. “Is that unusual?”
“I’ve never heard the like,” Patrick admitted as he stared ahead. “But I won’t pretend I know much about the Keys and the Senate. Mayhap they’re more common than grains of sand on the beach.”
I noticed the corners of Tegan’s lips tightened just slightly, but the look in his eyes told me he didn’t want to continue on the same topic. “Maybe. What are these Key offices even about?”
“They’re central locations where Keys and their pupils can go to get their monthly stipend,” Tegan explained as he watched the scenery disappear behind us. “They can be found in most of the major cities and are answerable only to themselves.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t the local governments have a say in how they’re run.”
“Only in name only, or so I’ve heard,” he admitted with a pensive expression on his face. “The Keys are quite wealthy thanks to the services provided by their members and they pay off the governments to leave them alone.”
“Those are the jobs Patrick mentioned, right?” I asked him.
He nodded. “And he was right to say they weren’t always safe. There are breaking curses and fending off beasts, but the task list is just as closely guarded as the rest of their organization. If you don’t see them perform the feats there’s very little chance you know what’s done.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Then you’ve seen them do that stuff? Break curses and fight monsters?”
Tegan readjusted his sitting position and drew the basket against his side to lean an arm over the top. “A few times, though not because they wanted me there. If the Key and their apprentices could have silenced me, I suspect they might have tried.”
My mouth dropped open. “Silenced you? Like killed you?”
He grinned. “Or perhaps just placed a curse on me to keep my quiet, but curses aren’t much use against dragon magic.”
More than a little apprehension arose inside me. “And these guys are supposed to be my what? My coworkers?”
Tegan pursed his lips as he stared ahead of us. “We’ll see.”