The Falcon in the Barn (Book 4 Forest at the Edge series) (81 page)

Yes!
The memory in Mahrree’s mind
cried out.
Yes, that’s right!

This elicited some gasps from the crowd, but
Mr. Kori continued. “Something happened to the land, either illness
or plague or disaster or a combination, to cause the people to
leave. Those who survived were approximately one thousand. They
traveled for days and came to this land which was covered with
fertile soil deposited from the volcano that lies under Mt.
Deceit.”

Wait a minute
, Mahrree’s thoughts
churned. The memory began to shout,
Wait a minute—that’s not
quite right . . .

“
These ancestors of ours,
to keep their descendants from exploring the Cursed Lands,
developed a new writing, a new language, and a new mythology to
keep their children contented here.” Never once did he takes his
eyes off of his notes. “Their leader named himself The Creator and
was the mastermind of this effort until his untimely death three
years after their move.”

The Creator? Dead?

Mahrree looked around her frantically. Her
children were dumbfounded, her neighbors were stunned, and her
husband on the podium showed nothing at all.

“
It is our desire to keep
the wish of our ancestors and to not expand to the west. The
evidence shows the land will not support life. Going to the Cursed
Lands,” and for a moment he looked up, “will only be going to our
deaths. You must all stay in your villages and expand in other
ways—”

“
NO!” Mahrree cried. It was
a lie! Every bit of her knew it.

But no one heard her outcry, because the
crowd had also exploded into a loud variety of responses.

“
Expand how? Upwards?
That’s ridiculous!”

“
We don’t care! We’re still
going!”

Rising over all the protests was a dull roar,
growing angry and threatening violence.

Colonel Shin still remained motionless.

Mahrree searched his eyes for something,
anything, but he blocked her out.

Kori put an end to outrage in a voice louder
than anyone could imagine the slender man could possess. “We
therefore declare this matter of Terryp’s map, the ruins, the
Cursed Lands, and the origin of our people resolved, and any
further discussion unnecessary. The debate is officially
closed!”

Mahrree grew cold and hot at the same
time.

“
The debate is
closed?
” she seethed.

“
Uh-oh.” Peto looked behind
his mother to his sister.

Her eyes were wide staring back at him. She
cocked her head toward Mahrree who seemed to be steaming.

Peto put a hand on his mother’s arm, but she
pushed him away. Not this time. She would not be quieted.

Deck now leaned back and looked at Peto.

Peto shook his head and shrugged. He was
about to put his hand on his mother’s arm again when he realized
she was no longer there.

Mahrree was on her feet, breathing
deeply.

The roar of angry crowd dissipated as
everyone turned to see what Mahrree Shin would do next.

“
Mother!” Peto whispered in
panic. “Sit DOWN!”

Perrin stared at his wife, his eyes large and
brimming with urgent signals now.

But Mahrree didn’t notice him. She had eyes
only for the Administrators’ lackey.

“
Mr. Kori!” she bellowed
her loudest. “The debate is NOT closed!” She quickly pushed past
Jaytsy and pulled out of Deck’s too-late grasp at her
arm.

Mr. Kori’s eyebrows rose slightly as he
watched with detached interest her progress along the crowded
row.

“
I refuse to accept that!”
she yelled, stumbling over people in her dogged effort to reach the
aisle. “How can you . . . excuse me, so sorry. Mr. Kori, how can
you suggest . . . well, move the bag when you see someone coming! .
. . Mr. Kori!” Mahrree exclaimed as she finally reached the aisle.
She stood as tall as she could, smoothed her dress, and took her
stance. Every inch of her small frame told her what she needed to
do.

After nineteen years, she was going to return
to the platform.

“
How can you possibly
proclaim the debate is closed on anything? Everything, and I mean
everything
, is still up for debate. The sky is NOT always
blue in Edge. Just look at it now—it’s darkening to
black!”

Mr. Kori’s calm composure only infuriated
Mahrree. “How quaint,” he remarked as if looking over an antiquated
specimen. “You want to challenge the greatest minds in science with
your little homespun ideas?”

She wasn’t going to be demeaned. “Yes, and
with my belief in The Writings, and with all that we’ve taught our
children over the past 338 years! Tonight you’ve changed everything
we’ve ever known. And with evidence so new and fresh we haven’t
have time to test it!”

“
Now I’ve read The Writings
too,” said Mr. Kori, with more than a hint of condescension. “They
were a
nice
guide to help people along until they could help
themselves. But now we know much more than we did three hundred
years ago. We’ve matured past such stories. I’m not saying that you
can’t keep believing them. What I’m saying is we now have something
new which I’ll attest is better. We have the combined knowledge and
wisdom of those who have studied this world for many years. And
it’s those same great minds who have come to the conclusions of our
origins. The expedition to the ruins was, as
you
might say,
providential.” He smiled as if nothing more could be
added.

Mahrree saw her angle. “Ah,” she said, slowly
making her way to down the aisle. “So new information is better?
New ideas are to be embraced without being tested?”

Mr. Kori kept his grip on the table, his
smile fading as he realized she wasn’t giving up yet. “Not all new
ideas, of course not. But when something has been studied
extensively by the greatest minds, the conclusion is inevitable.”
His expression grew brittle.

Mahrree smiled sweetly. “But the expedition
returned only days ago. How ‘extensively’ can something be studied
in only
days?
”

“
The greatest minds were
with them! They’ve spent nine moons working on this during the
expedition.”

Mahrree nodded slowly, sure that they did
little exploring but lots of posturing.

“
I have a relatively good
mind,” she said as she approached the platform. “Yet I’m not yet
convinced of your findings, and I’m sure most of those here aren’t
convinced either. But we’re willing to learn, and if you’re willing
to discuss—”

Kori’s brittle composure began to crack as
Mahrree, now at the base of the platform, threatened to place a
foot on the first step.

“
Madam, there comes a time
to accept
what you do not know or cannot
understand.”

Mahrree’s eyebrows rose at that. “How do you
know I can’t understand?” She took the first step.

“
You believe too much in
the mythology created by our ancestors, it’s clear,” he sneered.
“You profess a belief in The Writings.”

“
And you believe too little
in it,” said Mahrree, taking another step.

Kori shifted his grip. “Madam, I don’t
believe in The Writings at all,” he snapped.
“
Simple stories
from a simpler time.”

There were audible gasps in the audience, but
not as many as Mahrree had hoped.

“
Then let’s discuss the
ruins! Tell us what the expedition found,” she pleaded. Another
step. “We must discuss
something
.”

Kori’s knuckles, gripping the podium, turned
white. “There is no room for debate—”

“
Sure there is!” She
gestured to the open space next to him. “Right there.” Over the
snickers of the audience, she continued, “When we close the debate,
we close our minds and unnecessarily limit our possibilities. All
our opportunities to grow, to expand, to explore?” She waved to the
crowd. “How can you take that away from them? Let them go anyway!
Let them be responsible for their choices and the
risks.”

“
We can’t allow
anyone
to leave the world!” Kori insisted. “We’ll send
soldiers to guard the access points if necessary, to keep this
people safe.”

“
What if we don’t believe
the so-called Cursed Lands are actually cursed?” Mahrree said,
still slowly ascending.

“
They are! Our expedition
suffered all kinds of hardships, and every man who entered the
ruins experienced shaking, heart palpitations, difficulty in
breathing—”

Mahrree tilted her head. “Sounds like a
serious case of cowardice, mixed with homesickness—”

“
It wasn’t! There was also
ample evidence that the pox originated from the ruins!”

Mahrree raised her eyebrows and hesitated on
the stairs. “Oh really? What kind of evidence? Did they find little
pocks lying all over the ground?”

“
Evidence that you
certainly couldn’t understand, but must accept!”

Mahrree’s patience with the man’s disdain was
waning. “I, for one, will not accept that. I
cannot
accept
that. What if I don’t
want
you to keep me safe? Why’s that
the Administrators’ responsibility anyway? If I want to leave, I
should be able to. I won’t ask anyone for help or rescue. But if
you really want me to stay,” she said, her tone growing frosty,
“you must
prove
to me the conclusions are correct.”

Another step.

“
MADAM!” Kori boomed. “You
would do well to realize that the debate . . . is . . . over.” He
emphasized each word with what he likely thought was intimidating
rage. “You’re expected, as is everyone in this village,” he glanced
around, “to accept the results. It’s not the news we hoped for, I
agree. The impact upon those lands by our ancestors was worse than
we could’ve imagined. We cannot allow anyone there because the land
needs to heal from the misuse of our ancestors and others who may
have been there before.”

“
Others?” Mahrree said with
a hint of a smile.

Kori took a deep breath.“Yes, there may have
been others besides our ancestors. The expedition found evidence of
many different peoples.” He didn’t seem to want to say the words,
but it was better than illegally debating the vexing woman creeping
up the stairs. “They gathered samples of more than forty different
styles of writing, which suggests this world has been populated for
over one hundred thousand years.”

Now the gasps came, loud and from all over
the amphitheater.

Mahrree paused on the steps. Over forty
civilizations?

Oh Terryp!
she thought, Is this what
excited you so much that they thought you were mad? So many
different peoples!

Mahrree took another step with so much energy
she was surprised she didn’t fly. “Mr. Kori! This is fascinating!
Let’s discuss this. I have a theory. None of those were our
ancestors, but
other
groups of peoples brought here by the
Creator to also test their wills in the Plan, as stated in The
Writings.”

Another step.

“
The Writings have told us
we’re not the only ones, nor are we the last. So what if others
were brought here—forty groups so far—and each lived out there time
for the Plan? What if each group was here for, say, five hundred
years? That would mean this world has seen civilizations for maybe
. . . twenty thousand years, not one hundred thousand.

“
Or,” she continued
enthusiastically taking another step, “what if some of those groups
developed
more
than one writing system? What if one
civilization had multiple languages? Why, then the time of their
existences could be very different than either of our two theories!
Maybe there was only one group before us, but with forty different
ways of writing?”

Kori spluttered and stammered.

Mahrree was a flooding river of ideas, as she
always was when she was on the platform. “And how can we be so sure
a disaster destroyed them? What if their End to The Test came?
Their Last Days? Did the expedition find any bones or remains? Any
grave markers for millions of suddenly dead people? I doubt it. So
what if those who came before us are just
gone?

“
And I’ve also wondered why
had no other civilizations settled here, in Idumea and Edge and the
other villages? Why did the others before us not take advantage of
the fertile grounds here given to us by Mt. Deceit? I imagine a
volcano’s eruption may be a fearsome thing to witness, but if it’s
all just smoke and ash then a great abundance of black soil as we
have been taught by your good scientists—” Mahrree was sure to give
him a genuine smiled when she said that, “—why did no one else live
here? Could it be there are some things we still don’t understand
about how this world works? I mean, consider—”

“
We know ENOUGH!” Kori
bellowed, fully expecting his wrath to blow her off the platform.
His complexion had turned from pink to bright red as Mahrree had
plowed on.

But she didn’t move. “Oh Mr. Kori,” she said
fervently, “how can we
ever
claim to know enough?”

“
You
need no more! I
have here copies of the findings to be distributed to every family,
and you
will
read the conclusions and worry no more about
theories. You’ll all stay here where it’s safe, where we can
protect you, and you must not risk leaving.”

Mahrree’s patience was spent. “Why?” she
demanded.

Then a thought struck her so forcefully it
nearly
did
blow her off the platform. It hit her stomach
with a raw punch while the rest of her body filled with angry
heat.