The Forest at the Edge of the World (35 page)

Battle.

It didn’t feel like a battle but an absurd game where only one side knew the rules and the other side tried v
ainly to figure out the players and the objective.

For the last several hours he and Karna had been tracking a
nother lone Guarder, but Perrin had lost sight of him. Maybe he was as disoriented as the two officers. The trees were so thick Perrin glimpsed the sun above him only occasionally. Yesterday, when he was quite sure he had his bearings, he noticed that the moss here grew on only one side of rocks and trees—the northern side.

Forest secret number three. Until he could be sure of his loc
ation again, he navigated by tiny green growth.

Had this been happening twenty years ago, after the forest fire
that decimated most of the hillside and eliminated the presence of Guarders for several years, he would’ve easily seen how to get out. But the pines that grew to replace the fallen timber competed for every available inch. Making their way through the trees was not only disorienting but painful. Perrin and Karna had scrapes over their hands and faces, and more than once the useless ribbons and decorations on their uniforms snagged the protruding needles.

Several t
imes the captain stopped to listen to the forest around him. Sometimes it was intensely still, not even the birds calling. Other times it was so noisy it sounded as if the entire ground below him was making ready to open up. But usually Perrin heard nothing that would help him. He’d look to Karna for ideas, but the lieutenant would just shrug.

The Guarders were out there; Perrin was sure of it. He could feel them but not see them. His only comfort was hoping they were as frustrated as he was, lost in the pines.

-
--

By evening Mahrree forced herself to eat something and felt a bit better. Perrin had been gone for two full nights and days now, and she couldn’t just sit and pine for him. She thought about walking into the village but felt so alone without him. Then she considered walking up to the fort and asking what was happening, but she was strangely embarrassed by that.

As she went to bed early that night she wished she had let Perrin get that puppy he had seen last week, just to have something else in the house. She lay in bed awake for hours, wondering where he was.

-
--

Somewhere near Moorland. That was Shin and Karna’s best guess. They camped—or attempted to—in the forest approaching the small village, and hoped their dozen soldiers were on duty. All day they’d been on the tail of a Guarder who, Shin was fairly confident, hadn’t seen them. But they could never quite catch up to him. He knew the forest better than they did, but it seemed just
barely
. By the time the sun started to go down, the Guarder in the distance was looking around nervously, and Perrin felt a little more confident when he realized the man was lost, too.

When it grew dark, the officers lost sight of the Guarder again, and Perrin knew their chances of finding him in the night were nil.

And their chances of finding their way out of the forest, even less.

It was going to be another long, uncomfortable night lying in the dirt trying to rest. He tried not to think about his hunger since their rations ran out a midday meal.

He tried not think that he’d led his lieutenant to the middle of the unknown, and that he wasn’t sure where they were going in the morning.

And he especially tried not to think that his new wife of just two and a half moons was going to bed alone, for the third time.

Chapter 18 ~ “Then they did the strangest thing . . .”

T
he surgeon jogged over to the knot of soldiers at the edge of the forest. “Well, what kind of trouble have we gotten ourselves into now?” He was already opening his travel pack in eagerness to initiate it.

None of the men had seen the surly doctor looking happy about anything before. Then again, besides the two injured soldiers the first night of the raid, nothing beyond a few cuts had yet occurred at the fort, and a man with more than thirty years of army service needed to be useful. The surgeon’s eyes glowed in anticipation as he yanked off the sleeve of the wounded corporal.

“Seems it’s just a nick in the arm, Surgeon,” said the master sergeant. “From that last Guarder they’ve tied up.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” The gray-haired man sighed in disa
ppointment as he examined the gash. “Not very deep . . . suppose I don’t need to stitch it, then.”

The corporal closed his eyes in relief that his head wasn’t about to meet a wooden plank to render him unconscious for the proc
edure.

“Still,” the surgeon cocked his head, “it could stand a thorough cleaning. Decades ago Guarders attempted to poison the knife blades.” A grim smile crept across his face. “We don’t want infe
ction setting in now, do we?”

The corporal looked at the master sergeant in pleading, but he could only shrug in apology.

“This will do the trick,” the surgeon announced as he opened a bottle from his pack containing clear liquid.

The corporal’s shoulders sagged as he saw it was only water.

But it wasn’t.

“Yee-OW! What is THAT?!” the corporal cried as he yanked his arm away.

“My own brew,” the surgeon’s grim smile developed a baleful quality as he gripped the young man’s wrist again. “Burns away any infection. You’ll be arm wrestling again in no time.”

“Gonna burn off my whole arm!”

“Nonsense. Besides, this wrap I’m applying will make sure your arm doesn’t fall off.”

“That could happen?”

“Strange things do,” the surgeon said without a hint of humor.

The master sergeant shook his head in assurance at the corporal, but the young soldier didn’t know who to believe.

“There,” the surgeon said as he tied the wrap. “You’ll be good as new in a few days.” He sounded disappointed. Then he turned to the master sergeant. “A word?”

The master sergeant nodded and the two men walked a little di
stance into the vacant field.

“I’m also here to inform you, sergeant, that you are now in command of the fort.” The surgeon was never one to beat around a bush. He’d plow right over it.

“What?!”

“The captain and the lieutenant are still in the forest, correct?”

“Yes, but Wiles—”

“—who is third in command has been relieved of duty.”

“Why did you do that?” the sergeant exclaimed.

“I didn’t do it,” the surgeon grumbled. “He did it to himself. Something’s snapped in Wiles’s mind, and he’s completely useless. I suspect he’s traumatized, but there hasn’t been a case of real trauma since the Great War. Maybe he’s unstable, I don’t know. He’s doing nothing right now. As fourth in command, you are now point co
mmander here, and at the fort. Should Shin and Karna not return . . .”

He cleared his throat and paused.

“The High General will have our uniforms, then our heads,” he declared plainly. “Maybe Shin’s unstable too. Why else would he take such a risk? Sergeant, we both know this is disastrous. You and I need to maintain a semblance of calm and command while our two officers find new ways to die and the sergeant major stares at the walls.”

The master sergeant swallowed down his surprise. “But . . . I r
etire from the army in just two more moons,” he said as if it mattered.

“Well then,” the surgeon slapped him on the back, “you’re g
oing out as a commander. Congratulations.”

---

Wiles rocked himself on the chair like a terrified child, trying to think.

The fort had only a handful of new recruits left in it, tasked to run food, medical supplies, and rope to the rest of the soldiers wai
ting along the trees for more Guarders. Even the surgeon walked slowly up and down the edge of the forest just waiting to be needed, or just wanting to see some action.

Wiles hadn’t ordered any of that; the master sergeant now standing in charge at the northeast gates likely had. He’d even star
ted lessons in hog tying, or calf roping, or whatever it was they did to immobilize the Guarders that they hoped to catch next.

All Wiles could do was sit behind the big command desk in the office and slowly sway. He remembered words, commands, scenar
ios, but none of them could help him. None of this was right.

That was what occupied Wiles’s mind—how completely contr
ary to any protocol, rule, or past action all of this was. There were supposed to be stages and order, but instead there was chaos, and complete loss of containment.

“
Containment
,” Wiles whispered again, closing his eyes in dread. For two days he hadn’t eaten or slept, too obsessed with the word. “When he finds out we lost containment—”

He could barely bring himself to admit his fear, but he had to. His training demanded it. The oaths demanded it.

There was only one solution, for him and for the captured Guarders.

T
hat was the other problem. Guarders were never captured alive. Until now. And there was only one way for a captured Guarder to behave.

Wiles added a quiet moan to his swaying as the sun slowly set in the west.

-
--

The night had been unbearably long for Mahrree. As exhausted from worry and illness as she was, she couldn’t rest. Then the next day was as insufferable as the previous two. She couldn’t eat, she couldn’t sleep, she couldn’t think of anything else but Perrin.

Mahrree had to face the truth. Being married to an officer was sickening.

-
--

“And I used to think the miles they had us run each week for training was useless,” Karna whispered to Shin as they hiked over yet another wooded rise.

The sun was high again in the blue sky, but it didn’t help with spotting anything in the dense trees.

“Been running and walking so much the past few days, I think I’m going to be sick when all of this is over. I mean, really, when was I ever going to need to be in such good condition when, as an officer, I would spend all my time on a horse?”

Shin chuckled. “And who told you that you would be spending all your time on horseback?”

“Hmm, a fat, balding general named Cush. I believe you know him.”

Perrin smiled at Karna’s contempt. The lack of sleep and food was making the lieutenant bolder. Maybe the entire army would find themselves braver if they took to the forests.

“Known Cush since I was a child,” Perrin said as he scanned the bushy distance for their quarry. “Cush petitioned my father heavily for the position of his advisor.  I think it was so that he could spend his time behind a desk. That’s where he’s the most comfortable.”

Perrin nudged Karna and pointed into the distance. The forest dipped from their position on a hillside, allowing them a clear view of the tree-covered slope rising on the other side of the small canyon at the base of the mountains. They saw a slight movement several hundred paces in the distance.

“And Cush sitting behind a desk makes all the horses at the garrison comfortable as well,” Karna said, pointing to where a tree shimmied ever so gently. It may have just been a bear scratching an itchy backside—they’d already seen two—but the officers decided to believe it was something more significant.

Perrin nodded. “That Guarder can’t go too much further. The forest narrows just before Moorland there. See that rock outcro
pping? Very few trees—he’d expose himself too much. I’m guessing he’ll backtrack again, looking for anyone else. I wonder if he realizes he’s going in large circles.”

“I’m glad he is. I almost used to this terrain now. I’m sure we’ve seen that tree before.”

“That’s because it’s a
forest
, Brillen. There’s only about a million more trees just like it!”

Karna smirked and was about to respond when they both heard a shout. They looked into the distance down towards the south where the woods ended.

More shouts came from the tree line, and a slight movement of tree branches suggested someone else was running into the forest. Either that, or that the winds were picking up again.

Shin and Karna looked in the direction of the man they had been following for two days, but saw nothing. Perrin groaned in frustr
ation and signaled to Karna to follow him. They darted through the trees down the hillside towards the edge of the forest and the sound of shouting.

In a small clearing just a few paces from the edge of the woods stood a Guarder. His arm was wrapped around a terrified private, and his other hand held his jagged dagger against the young man’s throat. Three soldiers were facing him, their swords drawn, when the captain and the lieutenant appeared behind them.

“I said don’t move!” the Guarder shouted, twisting himself and his hostage to face the filthy captain and lieutenant. “Guarantee me safe passage, and the soldier goes free!”

Captain Shin held up his hands calmly, but the Guarder shifted nervously, causing the private to whimper.

Karna drew his sword but Perrin kept his hands up.

A few more soldiers charged into the clearing and stopped a
bruptly when they saw the situation.

“All right,” the captain said. “You may go free after you answer a few questions.”

“No questions!” the Guarder in dark dirt brown clothing with a darkened face cried. Agitated, he shifted his grip, and the soldier tried to pull his arm away from his chest. But the Guarder held the knife closer to his throat. “Nothing! I’m leaving now, and I’m taking him with me! I refuse to be captured!”

Shin took a cautious step towards the man and put his hands on his waist. “And how far do you intend to take him?” he said levelly. “How am I supposed to get him back?”

“That’s not my problem!” the Guarder shouted at him.

“Yes it is,” Shin said coolly. “Because I have eight soldiers with swords pointed at you. I think you have quite a big problem. But if you answer a few questions, I’m willing to let you go free.” Perrin raised his hand in warning to Karna who he could tell was ready to protest the offer.

“Get out of my way!”

“Why are you here?” Shin took another slow step forward. “What do you want from Edge?”

“I said no questions!”

“Because if there’s something you need—food, supplies, wha
tever—we might be able to help you.”

“Get out of my way!”

Shin stepped closer.

The Guarder pressed the knife against the private’s throat.

“Where do you live?” Shin said. “Why have you come here?”

“Shut up! Just shut up!”

Shin shook his head. “You don’t really want to do this, I can tell. Your heart’s not into it. That’s good.” He took another step. “You don’t have to, either. You can just drop the knife, and I’ll guarantee your safety. Just tell me how I can help—”

“Don’t you understand shutting up?!”

“Never been good at it,” Perrin admitted, taking one more step. “Just never know when to quit . . .” He saw the man’s finger twitch on the handle of the knife.

Karna repositioned his grip on his sword.

“Just drop the knife and—”

The captain recognized the Guarder’s movement seemingly just a moment before it actually happened. Shin drew his sword in an instant and thrust it into the Guarder’s side just as he began to cut into the private’s throat.

Karna’s sword struck the Guarder from behind a moment later, and the Guarder and the private both dropped to the ground.

The Guarder was dead.

The private only thought he was as he whimpered and held his bleeding throat.

Shin rushed over to lift him up. “You’re all right, soldier! Just nicked your skin. Calm down,” he ordered as another soldier arrived with a cloth to tie around his neck.

Perrin looked over at Karna who was checking the dark man for a pulse.

He looked up at the captain and shook his head.

Shin sighed and rubbed his face thoughtfully. “We have one more, Lieutenant. It isn’t over yet,” and he scanned the thick trees for any sign of their last Guarder.

Karna nodded, stood up, and gestured to the other soldiers. “Sergeant, take the private to find the surgeon. The rest of you stay along the tree line. The captain and I may have one more for you.”