The Forest at the Edge of the World (13 page)

She’d never heard anyone before say anything against the A
dministrators, and now she stood spouting accusations which she realized, judging by the response of the captain, just may have been accurate. And, she realized with further worry, had the possibility of reaching the ears of the Administrator of Loyalty. She’d never heard of anyone in the remote northern villages ever catching his attention, but rumors abounded about his Querul-the-Third-tendencies down in Idumea. None of those rumors ever said Gadiman accomplished anything more beyond giving someone a threatening glare before another administrator pulled him away. He was their token guard dog that no one really cared for, but needed to have around anyway, just in case.

Mahrree fretted all over again that
she just might come across as the first real threat.

Until she remembered the captain’s words. “ . . . a
simple
school teacher at the Edge of the world.” Her worries vanished, replaced by livid fury.

A simple teacher, indeed!

Well, she had to admit as the pain in her foot forced her to calm down, she
was
a teacher. She’d never be fancy, so she
was
simple. And she
was
in Edge.

While his words were accurate, his critical tone was meant to cut away all her confidence. But she wouldn’t let it. She may be a simple school teacher, but simple things have a way of rising up in complex ways.

She felt enraged again, a raw emotion so powerful she didn’t know what to do with it. Pacing wasn’t enough. Maybe some trees somewhere needed all the bark peeled off.

She noticed someone standing in the shadows at the end of her pacing area, and he was wearing a blue uniform. Without thinking about the next move, she hobbled over to him.

“Yes?” she asked, barely containing her disdain.

The captain’s face was calm as he smiled, which made her all the more furious.

“Are you hurt?” He nodded at her foot.

“Only temporarily. Old debating injury,” she explained bitterly.

To her surprise he grinned and held up his left hand. “I have one of those too.” He made a fist with it.

It took all of Mahrree’s remaining self-control to not make a match and show him what to do with it. His stomach was temptingly close.

His face sobered and he rubbed his forehead, near the scar above his eyebrow.

“Look, I just want you to know that I feel awful about what happened up there,” he said softly. “I lost my temper and I don’t usually do that. Well, not with women. Something about . . .” His
voice trailed off. He pressed his lips together before he tried again. “I just want you to know that your mind is much like mine. This got out of control. I
am
sorry.”

Mahrree was stunned speechless, which was quite an acco
mplishment. She didn’t expect any of that, so she had nothing to retort with. Later that evening she came up with a long list of responses, and even wrote them down. But all she could manage right then was a lame, “Thank you.”

“I hope you feel better soon,” he gestured to her foot. “Appa
rently we’re on again in two nights.”

Mahrree’s eyes flared as he gave her a casual smile, put on his cap, and left quickly.

He’d been right, annoyingly. She had very little experience with men: they mystified her.  She’d seen that behavior before in the little boys she taught. They’d have a terrible fight, hit and punch each other, then be friends again five minutes later as if the fight was part of the game.

Granted, the teenage girls were ridiculous too. They would just
perceive
an injustice and they’d give each other the silent treatment for an entire season.

But nothing was more astonishing than Captain Perrin Shin’s casual smile and perplexing behavior. She had heard once of a man in the village of Moorland who thought he was two different people. He even went by two different names and carried on bizarre conve
rsations that no one could follow.

“That must be it,” Mahrree whispered to the air. “The man is not right in his mind. We
are
in trouble.” She laughed weakly as she started to hobble for home.

It was better than crying.

-
--

The new lieutenant, a young man with dark brown hair, light reddish-brown skin, and a slight but muscular build, was disappointed the captain wasn’t there to greet him. He was a bit anxious, and having the High General personally see him off yesterday morning didn’t help ease his apprehension.

But for graduating top of his class at the Command School at the university, he was given the biggest responsibility available for
graduating cadets: second in command of the new fort in Edge.

He’d heard the talk—it was
only
Edge. It was
only
the smallest fort in the world, likely to never see any action, and likely established only to give the High General’s son an early command. But it was still a most coveted opportunity. He’d been studying for this assignment for the past six moons and was in frequent contact with the captain. Still, staring at the fort made it all a little overwhelming. He would’ve welcomed a familiar face.

Then again, he’d arrived earlier than expected. He could hardly expect Shin to wait around on the off chance his lieutenant came a day early.

The master sergeant in charge of building, on loan from the fort at Rivers, assured him the captain would return after sunset. “He’s doing what High General ordered him to do—winning over the hearts and minds of the people of Edge!” Then he laughed at a joke the lieutenant seemed to have missed.

Lieutenant Brillen Karna set out to give himself a tour of the fort. The tall command tower provided unobstructed views of the forest and the mountains beyond to the north, and the village to the south. The large forward office with its vast windows and enormous desk would be an excellent planning area, and the adjoining office for the commanding officer held impressive views of the east, south, and west.

The officers’ quarters and enlisted men’s barracks were nearly completed, but the mess hall still needed a roof. The hospital wing was more progressive than any he had ever seen, with thirty cots and dozens of dark colored bottles lining the shelves. The armory was waiting to be stocked with the swords, long knives, and bows and arrows that should arrive in the next week. The stables were nearly completed, the feed barns were already filled, and the wall that surrounded the entire compound would be finished in just a few days.

None of the land in the fort or the surrounding area showed ev
idence of danger. Just a few hundred paces to the north in the deep woods lay all kinds of traps—sink holes, small bubbling mud volcanoes, steam vents, and even occasional sprays of hot water.

Many of the recruits waiting to come from Idumea were already worried about living so close to the forests. Karna had assured them no one would enter the woods, but still the stories travelled faster than the wildfire that hit the forest several years ago. That the Guarders would have chosen such an inhospitable place to stage
their new raids from was unfathomable to the lieutenant.

But in a way, Karna could understand the Guarders’ warped wisdom. If the army dared to venture in the forest, they wouldn’t e
scape without losing a horse or soldier to either the thin crust of the ground or a hiding Guarder. The army was limited to the open regions beyond the forest where they could sit and wait for the enemy. Until then, the soldiers would patrol the borders of the forest looking for signs from a people who never left any.

Karna turned from the noisy forest and admired the tall timbers that composed the outer walls of the compound. He was considering the captain’s ingenuity to cut the tops into points when he saw someone in the distance walking with a determined gait to the fort. The sun was just setting, but the lieutenant was sure the large silho
uetted figure was Shin. He followed quickly.

As he passed the stables, the sergeant inspecting them called out to him, “You just missed the captain, but you should be able to find him in his office.”

The lieutenant made his way up the tall stairway of about twenty steps that led to the command tower. Part way up he heard a splintering noise. He paused to work out from which direction it came.

When he heard no other sounds, he proceeded cautiously up the stairs. No one was in the forward office, so Karna ventured to the command office. The door was open and he saw Shin wrapping his left hand in white cloth.

“Captain!”

Captain Shin looked up at his lieutenant. “Karna! Good to see you again.” He sounded slightly out of breath. “I didn’t expect you until tomorrow, but I should have known you would be here early. Ever vigilant, ever ready,” he said with a pained smile. “What do you think of the fort so far?”

Karna just stared at the cloth on Shin’s hand which now had a splash of red emerging through it. “Uh, it’s very impressive. The general should be pleased,” he said quickly. “Captain, are you injured?”

Shin’s mouth twitched. “Not permanently, I hope. By the way,” he said in an official tone, “be sure to tell the building sergeant that the quality of wood in this office shows evidence of structural infer
iority.”

The lieutenant then saw a hole in the thin inner board that sep
arated the office from the forward room. It was the size of a fist, and partly edged in blood.

Karna squinted and took a closer look.

“Something you want to say, Lieutenant?”

Karna swallowed hard and stood back up to face his new co
mmander. “The reputation of the Shins is well known, sir. Stories abound about your—”

Shin held up his right hand to stop him. “I know what you’re thinking.”

Karna thought that was convenient, since he wasn’t sure what it was himself, and didn’t know where his nervous rambling was headed. All he could remember right then was how a shouting High General Shin could leave a class quaking in their boots. His son was more amiable, but evidently stronger and with an odd manner of testing the structural integrity of his office.

“Don’t worry,” Shin said. “I won’t be requiring my number two man to practice his ‘number two hand’ hitting technique on the walls.”

Karna noticed Shin’s left hand was still in a fist, and growing redder.

“Mainly because I trust you only with a bow, anyway,” Shin said with a hint of teasing. “This was entirely personal, Lieutenant. Not professional.” Then muttering to himself he added, “Not in the least bit.”

Karna dared to smile ever so slightly.

To his surprise, Shin grinned and winked at him.

“Uh, sir? You may not be aware of this, but the hospital wagon arrived early as well. Two surgeons’ assistants came with it and were hoping to surprise you by stocking the supply room before morning, when they were to officially present themselves.” His eyes kept darting to the white cloth, now mostly red and dripping occasionally on the new wooden floor.

Shin didn’t seem to notice the mess.

“Sir, perhaps it would be a good idea to go acquaint yourself with them
right now
. I’m sure they’ll be quite eager to show off their skills in uh . . . uh . . .”

Shin slapped him on the shoulder. “I see why my father reco
mmended you. Observant, loyal, and with an eye for the obvious which is shockingly absent in most people. Perhaps I
will
go introduce myself before heading to bed. Claim your quarters tonight, Karna, get some sleep, and then be ready for tomorrow morning. We have an entire village to win over, and I seem to be making the job a bit harder each day.”

Shin started out the door, but paused and put his good hand on the lieutenant’s shoulder.

“And Karna, don’t believe every story you hear about Shins.”

              ---

The slender man in black chuckled to himself all the way back to the forest. It shouldn’t be this easy. The targets shouldn’t present themselves so obviously. He needed some kind of challenge, didn’t he?

Then again, maybe this was just the cosmos rewarding him for his decades of patience waiting for his skills to be required again. Not since the glory days of Querul the Third had he felt so alive.

It had been that stupid General Shin—the first one, appointed by Querul the Fourth—that cut his fledgling career short. And now, in the marvelous twists of fate only Nature could create, decades later he was called back into service.

If only General Relf Shin had a clue, he’d be riding his fastest horse to Edge, panicked.

The man in black quieted his chuckling. No sense in giving himself away already.

---

Two men sat in the dark office of an unlit building.

“More reports are coming in,” said the first older man. “A little spottier than I’d like, but not unexpected considering they have no idea to whom the reports go, or who’s at the top. But so far I’m not displeased. However, I do have a question: why would he choose to stay in cold, dull Edge when he has the choice of any village? Coast. Waves. Flax. Somewhere warm that’s far more interesting for a si
ngle man.”