The Falcon in the Barn (Book 4 Forest at the Edge series) (45 page)

“
You’d like to meet your
father at the gate, Captain?”

“
Yes sir, if you don’t
mind?”

The colonel shrugged. “Bring him up here when
he’s done with his inspection. I’ve got a few things to wrap up
first.” He didn’t add,
Before I’m demoted and you’re placed in
command over me
.

Perrin didn’t need any warning to know when
General Thorne arrived at the command tower a while later. The
sound of scuffling boots and frantic calls for “Attention!” were
heard throughout the building. Perrin slowly rose from his desk,
walked casually to the door of his office, and stood in the forward
command office just as General Thorne jogged up the stairs.

He gave Colonel Shin a surprisingly warm and
generous smile. Perrin concluded that Qayin must have practiced it
at The Dinner two moons ago.

“
Perrin, wonderful to see
you again! This place is a marvel. Your father didn’t do it justice
in his descriptions. Absolutely amazing. We should be replicating
this fort design all over the world.”

With a hand gloved in black, General Thorne
pumped Colonel Shin’s hand vigorously, and Perrin wondered for a
moment, who was this cheerful man wearing Qayin Thorne’s face and
uniform? Only a year ago he held a sword to Perrin’s head. The look
in his eyes at that time begged for any reason to thrust.

Perrin put on his Dinner smile as well.
“General, I hope your trip up here was pleasant. Good time of year
to be traveling.”

“
Very pleasant, thank you.”
He continued to smile in a manner that made Perrin think of cheese
left out in the sun: hard and a bit sweaty. “High General Cush was
hoping to accompany me, but he’s been unwell. His health has been
slowing him down, but he sends his regards. Perrin, I never
realized how remarkable the scenery here is. Up close the mountains
are almost worth looking at. No wonder Lemuel was eager to return.
He looks good and his side is healing nicely. Been treated well
here, I can see. We could hardly keep him in Idumea. I suppose he
finds the north most appealing.”

Captain Thorne stood behind his father, still
stiffly at attention but beaming.

“
Well,” Perrin tried to
think of the best way to put it, “Edge wouldn’t be the same without
him, sir.” Something caught his eye, just above General Thorne’s
name patch. It was a pin of gold, about half the size of his thumb,
the shape of which stopped Perrin from breathing.

The general noticed. “Beautiful
craftsmanship, isn’t it? Best goldsmith in Idumea made it. Mal has
commissioned a few more to be presented to all future generals in
the army.”

His next sentence was completely
unnecessary.

“
It’s a mountain
lion.”

Perrin barely nodded as he stared at the
dangling object which was the outline of a prowling mountain lion.
Its front paw was raised in anticipation, its shoulders hunched in
the same posture of The Cat when he was about to pounce on a
floating piece of fluff.

“
Interesting,” he said,
hoping he sounded uninterested.

Qayin continued his mucky cheese smile. “A
symbol, to remind the citizenry.” His voice was far too jovial, and
it was clear he wasn’t used to doing jovial. “After all, mountain
lions are known for their courage, their tenacity—”

Their ability to sneak up and bite your
throat out
, Perrin supplied to himself. He glanced behind
Thorne to see Zenos standing at the top of the stairs, his eyes
slightly narrowed in uneasiness.

“—
fitting reminders for the
world that the Army of Idumea is here to protect their interests,”
Qayin finished.

Perrin heard the multiple layers of meaning
in Thorne’s proclamation. “How interesting,” he said again.

General Thorne slapped him genially on the
back.

“
And gloves now, too, sir?”
Perrin asked as he watched Thorne meticulously pull off the thin,
form-fitting black gloves. Perhaps he wore them only for patting
Perrin on the back.

“
Of course!” Qayin said,
again with too much jolliness. “Gives a more complete look to the
uniform and keeps one’s hands clean.”

From what kind of filth
? Perrin nearly
blurted.

Qayin Thorne pocketed his gloves, after
fastidiously folding them. “Let’s go sit down in your office,
Perrin. We have lots to talk about. Captain Thorne, please join
us.”

“
Yes, sir!” the captain
chirped.

Perrin held out his arm for the two Thornes
to go into his office. One brief facial tic told Zenos to sit down
at the large front desk and be ready for anything. The cotton was
still in the bookshelf, so eavesdropping would be easy. Colonel
Shin followed the Thornes into the office and shut the door.

Zenos sat down at the large desk, motioned to
the other soldiers to get back to work, then leaned back in the
chair, picked up a manual whose title he wouldn’t remember later,
and rocked the chair back to lean against the wall underneath
Hycymum’s purple and yellow Edge banner.

---

Mahrree could hardly concentrate on school
that day. Twice one of her students set fire to another student’s
trouser leg and she didn’t notice until he did a stomping dance in
the aisle.

Peto worriedly watched his mother during
midday meal. He couldn’t concentrate either, especially once they
saw the blue banner go up at the tower nearest the school.

“
Think he’s going to be in
trouble?” Peto asked.

“
He’s
always
in
trouble,” Mahrree muttered as she fussed with her
sandwich.

When they left the school in a fast march
home, Jaytsy caught up to them. “Any news yet?”

“
No,” Mahrree said. “But I
don’t expect any until dinner.”

“
Or maybe earlier?” Jaytsy
said as they turned on the alleyway to the house.

Perrin’s latest horse, a white gelding, was
tethered to the fence.

Mahrree stopped.

She had a habit of running through her mind
every scenario she could imagine, then anticipating how she’d react
when it happened. Yet it always seemed to be the unanticipated
option that occurred, leaving her shocked at the outcome despite
her hours of mental preparation. Some day she would learn to quit
planning ahead. No scenario that she’d anticipated had him home
early.

She started walking again. “Maybe he’s just
there to check on The Cat.”

“
Of course,” Peto said
dismally.

When they entered the kitchen, Perrin turned
partially in surprise, his back still to them.

“
Oh, I thought you’d still
be a few minutes.”

“
Why are you here?” Mahrree
asked, her tone full of dread.

“
To check on The Cat,” he
told her.

“
Uh-
huh
,” Peto
said.

“
Well, I got one right,”
Mahrree said more to herself. “No really, why?”

Perrin’s arm tried to drop subtly to his
side, and a small mew fell to the ground. His forced smile was
outlined in pain as The Cat climbed back up his trouser’s leg. “I
have news, and I need to go back to the fort soon. I just needed to
get . . . an early dinner.”

As the family sat down apprehensively at the
table, Peto bounced in his chair. “Anything about Idumea?”

“
Yes,” Perrin said. “We’re
not going there.” A purring sound began from his lap.

Mahrree and Jaytsy sighed in relief.

Peto just sighed.

“
I’ve not been promoted to
general,” Perrin continued, “nor have I been demoted. It seems the
army, upon the advice of the Administrators, has decided that
before a colonel can be promoted to general he must serve as a full
colonel for three years, unless there are extenuating
circumstances, which circumstances have yet, of course, to be
determined. In any case, I have nearly two more years until I’m
eligible to become a general.”

“
That’s trash!” Peto
yelled.

“
That’s
politics
,”
Perrin clarified. “Same thing, though.”

Mahrree breathed easier every moment.

“
There’s more,” he added
with a smile. “My probation has been lifted. I am to be awarded a
new medal for services above and beyond the call of duty, or
something wordy like that. I get another Officer of the Year
proclamation which I’ll just slide next to the other ones on the
shelf. And—” he paused for effect, “—tonight the fort is to be
officially renamed. That’s why I’m here now. I need to change into
my dress uniform although I don’t really see the need. You all need
to be dressed up as well. Sorry.”

“
Renamed?” Mahrree
asked.

“
Yes,” he sighed. “Fort
Shin.”

“
So they’re promoting
the fort
instead of you?” Jaytsy clarified.

“
You’re getting smarter
every day, Jayts,” Perrin pointed at her. “This way I’m ‘honored’
without anyone having to actually do, concede, admit, sacrifice, or
change anything significant. They just tack a few meaningless
letters up on a wall, some self-important men say some forgettable
words, a few people cheer without knowing why but do so because
it’s expected, and then everyone decides they’re satisfied.
That
, Peto, is politics.”

“
Well, I’m satisfied!”
Mahrree said, putting her head on the table in relief. She lifted
it back up. “So nothing’s really changed, has it?”

“
Well, there’s a new symbol
for the generals,” Perrin said, trying not to clench his teeth.
“Thorne wore it proudly on his uniform just about his name patch. A
pin in the shape of a mountain lion.”

“
What, a big kitty cat?”
Peto sneered. “Ooh, scary!”

Mahrree didn’t say anything, except met her
husband’s careful gaze that said much more.

Jaytsy looked nervously at her parents.

“
Some believe that cats are
highly underrated,” Perrin told his children. He and Mahrree had
never told them of Qayin Thorne admiring a cat’s ability to torment
a wounded falcon trapped in a barn, nor that he used the story to
explain to Shem the way Guarders saw the world. “And a mountain
lion? There’s no deadlier animal, Peto. It can sneak up behind you
and take you out with one swat of its claws and one bite of its
jaws. You shouldn’t trust it, even when its purring.

“
There is something more,”
Perrin continued. “There’s no sign of Guarder activity anywhere.
Not even in Trades or the gold mine. They must have moved up north,
all of them. General Thorne has been watching, but so far—nothing.
We may have finally dealt them a death blow, once and for
all.”

Mahrree was surprised at his tone—it was much
heavier than she expected. Just a few nights ago he was bouncing
happily like a teenage boy in a knife shop, but something today had
sucked all of the potential joy out of him. She was just about to
ask what was wrong when Peto spoke.

“
So what will they need any
generals for? Or even an army?”

“
Well, Peto,” Mahrree
started when she realized some of her husband’s old brooding had
returned, “if we no longer have an enemy to fight, then your father
can go on and do whatever he wants to.”

She watched Perrin closely, who was staring
at a knothole in the wood and likely scratching The Cat’s head
judging by the movement of his arm.

“
Would they just get rid of
the forts?” Peto said, shocked.

Perrin finally sighed. “I spoke to General
Thorne about that. I suggested that if, in a year, there’s no sign
of Guarders that maybe we can relax a few things, reduce the army,
maybe even let people explore the forests and beyond.”

Jaytsy sat up taller. “Why . . . that’d be
amazing!”

Her father only shrugged at that. “Yes, it
would be. But that’s not how Thorne and Cush and the garrison see
things.”

Mahrree squirmed in her chair, discouraged to
see her husband so low again. “Why? What did Qayin Thorne say?”

Perrin looked up at her, his eyes clouded.
“He said, ‘Why in the world’—and he used language a bit uglier than
that, but I promised I wouldn’t use that word in the house
again—‘Why would we want to do
anything
to reduce the army
and its influence?’ Then he said something that I don’t believe,
but apparently everyone in the garrison does: ‘Colonel Shin, there
are
always
more enemies.’”

Mahrree felt something inside recoil, and
noticed the worried looks in her children’s faces as well.
Perplexed, she asked, “But Perrin . . . what would that other enemy
be?”

He shook his head slowly. “I guess that’s the
real question now, isn’t it? Who are the mountain lions stalking
today?”

---

Knock-knock . . . knock-knock-knock.

Perrin looked up at the roof and wondered how
hard it’d be to construct an escape hatch. He could reach it if he
stood on his desk.

“
Come in.”

Captain Thorne opened the door and beamed. It
was as genuine as the light of the moons: borrowed, from some other
source. “Sir, I just wanted to be the first this morning to tell
you how proud I am that your name now graces the walls of the fort
where I serve.”

He was doing it again, trying to squeeze
himself under Perrin’s wing to make himself appear so
accommodating, so necessary, so important.

And worse, trying to make Perrin say those
ingratiating words,
thank you
. There was immense power in
someone thanking you that elevated the receiver of the thanks, and
made the speaker of the words somewhat equal—no: somewhat
subservient
to whom he thanked.