The Mansions of Idumea (Book 3 Forest at the Edge series)

The Mansions of Idumea

By Trish Mercer

Smashwords Version

Copyright © 2014 Patricia Strebel Mercer

All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other
electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses
permitted by copyright law.

All characters in this book are fictitious,
and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely
coincidental and utterly remarkable.

Cover design and photography is by Alexandria
Mercer’s mom and Dave Mercer’s wife. The photographer would like to
thank Alex for digging the cloak out of the costume box and growing
her hair out just long enough, and thank Dave for once again
dressing up, even though he kept channelling Bones from Star Trek
for his inspiration. (“Dammit Jim, I’m a soldier, not a
doctor!”)

The doors and stairs are from dreamstime.com,
and bear a remarkable resemblance to the Parthenon in Paris, or so
I’m told.

Contact author via website:
forestedgebooks.com

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the hard work of this author.

This book is also available in print.

Please remember to leave a review for my book
at your favorite retailer.

Because to the world,

doing the right thing

often looks like doing

the dumb thing.

MAPS: visit
http://forestedgebooks.com/maps/

A pronunciation guide to some of the more
unusual names . . .

Nicko Mal— NEE-koh MAL

Querul—KWER-el

Idumea— i-doo-ME-uh

Hogal Densal— HOE-gal DENS-al

Mahrree Peto— MARR-ee PAY-toh

Cephas Peto— SEE-fus PAY-toh

Hycymum Peto— HIE-si-mum PAY-toh

Hierum— HIE-rum

Tuma Hifadhi— TOO-muh hi-FOD-hee

Sonoforen— sun-uv-OR-en

Terryp— TARE-up

Jaytsy— JAYT-see

Brisack— BRIZ-ak

Gizzada— gi-ZAH-duh

Shem Zenos—Shem ZEE-noss

Qualipoe Hili—KWAL-ee-poe HEE-lee

Hegek—HEG-ik

Kuman—KOO-min

Kindiri—kin-DEER-ee

Giyak—GUY-ak

For background information on all character
names and derivations, visit
forestedgebooks.com/characters.

CONTENTS:

Prologue ~ “Oh, I remember Idumea.”

Chapter 1
~
“Change isn’t
all
bad, Perrin.”

Chapter 2
~
“Did something happen?”

Chapter 3
~
“My . . . my . . . my sofa!”

Chapter 4
~
“Your renovations will have to wait, Mrs.
Shin.”

Chapter 5
~
“Sometimes it feels like the world’s out to get
me.”

Chapter 6
~
“This is another reason why I hate Idumea.”

Chapter 7
~
“Finally found a way to get them to Idumea.”

Chapter 8
~
“Peto, have you ever had . . . a dream?”

Chapter 9
~
“Says the most competitive woman in the world.”

Chapter 10
~
“Just smile and nod. Smile and nod.”

Chapter 11
~
“You messed up again, didn’t you?”

Chapter 12
~
“In an emergency, you need to preserve the hierarchy to
prevent anarchy.”

Chapter 13
~
“As if there are different kinds of people in the
world.”

Chapter 14
~
“The enlisted men are teaching the brassy a thing or
two.”

Chapter 15
~
“You get yourself ready. I will deal with my
son.”

Chapter 16
~
“Those kind don’t belong here.”

Chapter 17 ~ “What we need is someone who has a special
talent.”

Chapter 18
~
“But the people of Edge are beginning to panic,
sir.”

Chapter 19
~
“Mother, who’s driving the coach?”

Chapter 20
~
“I realize it’s not exactly a mansion in
Idumea--”

Chapter 21
~
“What we did would be known by now, wouldn’t
it?”

Chapter 22
~
“This really isn’t in my nature, and I’m
very
sorry about this,
but--”

Chapter 23
~
“Once she even caught a falcon.”

Chapter 24
~
“Can you help him see reason?”

Chapter 25
~
“So the Quiet Man is still
our
man.”

Chapter 26
~
“Snakes, cats—I know you hate them all.”

Chapter 27
~
“Then again, Shem impresses everyone.”

Sneak peek at Book 3,
Falcon in the Barn

Acknowledgements . . .

About the author and contact
me

Prologue ~ “Oh, I remember
Idumea.”

“
N
ever in the
history of the world has someone taken so long to eat a piece of
pie,” the thirteen-year-old boy complained as he watched the old
woman seated in the middle of the pumpkin patch regarding her
dessert with too much fascination.

She was now dissecting a raspberry with her
fork, trying to catch each tiny bump on the tines.

“Oh,
why
did you just say that?” the
boy’s cousin whined. “She’s not going to take that as a reprimand,
but as a challenge!”

The old woman pretended not to hear the
conversation taking place in front of her, but examined a bit of
berry closely. “Truly remarkable—it holds together, yet easily
falls apart . . .”

The cousins rolled their eyes at each
other.

A distance behind them, leaning against a
fence and under the shade of a peach tree stood a tall, burly,
graying man. His arms were folded, his face was concealed by the
shadows, but his broad shoulders shook with quiet laughter.

“Good crop this year,” the old woman
continued analytically, a tiny berry bit held up impossibly close
to her eye.

She knew the man was behind her, watching. He
always was.

“Need to appreciate each berry,” she said.
“I’m getting
so
old—just don’t know how many more years left
I have to enjoy these.”

The boy sighed in aggravation, and the girl
let her head drop on the large pumpkin before her with a dull
thunk.

“She’s doing this on purpose, Vid,” the girl
told her cousin, or rather, the pumpkin. “Because of what you
said.”

“I don’t think so, Hycy,” he told her. “I
think she just can’t remember the rest of the story. So
old
,
you see . . . Muggah? Can you still hear us?” he called loudly.

Muggah looked past the bit of berry and
focused on the obnoxious boy. “Oh, I hear you all right, Vid. I
just love raspberries.”

Vid growled under his breath while Muggah
slipped the last bite of pie into her mouth.

“She doesn’t remember,” Vid announced, hoping
to nudge the woman to prove him otherwise. “She doesn’t remember
about the forest incidents, or the world changing, or even
Idumea—”

His cousin’s head popped up, and she tried to
send a warning with her eyes.

But it was too late.

Muggah was already glaring at him. “Oh, I
remember Idumea, Viddrow. I remember far too much.”

For once the teenage boy squirmed. Had he
noticed the older man watching them, he would have seen that he,
too, had stopped chuckling.

“So tell us?” Hycy squeaked, hoping to take
some of the glare away from her cousin.

Muggah’s expression softened as she looked at
the girl, then she sent a mollifying wink to the boy.
“Thirteen-year-olds always find the parts about Idumea most
interesting, probably because Peto was the same age. But a lot
happened before—”

“No, no, no,” Hycy begged. “Just . . .
shorten some of that. There’s not enough pie in the world to cover
all of that time.”

Muggah smiled slyly. “But we don’t get any
pie from the world.”

The teenagers sighed. “You know what I mean,”
Hycy said.

“All right, then,” Muggah said. “I’ll get to
the good parts as fast as I can.”

Behind her, the man settled in more
comfortably against the fence. After all, it was his story,
too.

Chapter 1
~
“Change isn’t
all
bad, Perrin.”

T
wo men sat in the
dark office of an unlit building.

“Are you sure you’re up to it, Nicko?”

Chairman Nicko Mal sat up taller. “Why
shouldn’t I be, Doctor?”

Dr. Brisack shrugged. “Oh, let’s see . . .
heart palpitations, chest pains, numbness—I can’t help but wonder
if the previous experiments didn’t lead to your heart problems.
Since we haven’t been taking an active role in directing the
Guarders these past years, you’ve become much healthier. You know,
you’re not a young man anymore. You’re not even a middle-aged
man—”

He ignored the sneer of Nicko Mal; Dr.
Brisack was used to patients not being happy with the truth.

“Your heart’s nearing eighty, Nicko,” the
Administrator of Family Life reminded him. “So too is the rest of
you. Your mind’s certainly capable of restarting our research about
the animalistic nature of man, but if you’re
heart’s
not in
it, then—”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Mal sighed. “In fact, I
haven’t felt this invigorated in years. The Guarders have been
flailing aimlessly for years now, and I think it’s time to send a
bit of direction their way, along with a bit of gold.”

Brisack nodded. “Yes, we’ve certainly amassed
enough to fund some truly creative studies. My only concern,” he
said slowly, “is that they may not come back completely under our
guidance.”

Mal held up his finger. “For enough gold,
anyone will subject themselves to another man’s guidance.”

“I can’t think of a single instance where
that hasn’t been true,” Brisack agreed. “I must admit, I’m rather
looking forward to this. And you’re planning a way to bring Perrin
Shin to Idumea?”

“We need to establish some baseline. I
haven’t even talked to the man in over fifteen years. How can I
know where best to stab my test subjects if I don’t know what
already hurts?” Mal folded his hands on his lap. “And a couple of
moons ago I took the liberty of instigating some rumors around
Idumea, that Guarders are living among us in disguise. Once people
start growing paranoid, their imaginations fill in the rest. I do
so
enjoy priming the pump,” Mal smiled thinly. “Perhaps Relf
will become antsy himself, and call for Perrin to come investigate
to see if there is any truth to the rumors.”