Soldier at the Door (Forest at the Edge)

by Mercer, Trish

  Behind him, Perrin heard Shem’s pained grunt before he addressed the gaggling assembly. “I’ll do my best not to disappoint you ladies,” and he chirruped his mount to catch up to major.

  Perrin glanced back and saw the girls giggle yet again and wave in unison as Shem’s horse trotted away from them.

  The young soldier looked rather desperate.

  Perrin considered the situation, and when his corporal caught up to him a moment later he said, “You know, Shem, I do allow my soldiers to marry. I encourage it, even. Lot of advantages to marriage, you know.”

  Shem shrugged and nodded half-heartedly. “Someday I’ll find the right woman, sir.”

  “There are quite a few around here who’d like to volunteer for the position.”

  “I’m not sure they’re my type, Major.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. One type had blonde hair, another black, another brown—”

  Shem chuckled. “I mean, um, they aren’t . . .” He fumbled for the right words, then tried a different tactic. “Major, I want a girl that would . . . that my sister and Mahrr—Mrs. Shin would both like.”

  Perrin noticed he started to say Mahrree again, but fixed it. Only someone that was his would feel such a familiarity, and also feel the need to conceal it.

  Shem continued as if he hadn’t slipped. “Someone they would be friends with. Back home there were a couple of girls that, well, if they’re still around in a few years . . .”

  “Ah, I see,” Perrin said slowly. “I don’t recommend waiting too long, Shem. I was lucky Mahrree was still single when I came here. But you can’t wait around simply hoping.”

  “I know.”

  “So you really don’t think any of those girls with their Zenos banner—”

  “Sir, would you have wanted to marry your wife if she were . . .” Shem paused to try to phrase it correctly, “minimizing her clothing in public to get your attention?”

  Perrin chuckled. “Mahrree was never that kind of girl. At your age she was still scaring off men, not trying to attract them. There’s much more to her than her looks.”

  “That’s what I mean! I want more than just looks, but all they have is—” Unable to find the right words, he instead wiggled his shoulders like Sareen had and rolled his eyes in disgusted embarrassment.

  Perrin winced in agreement. “Rather relieved you’re not interested in her. That giggling—I never knew a sound to be so grating. And I’m stuck hearing it every evening as she cleans up after the boys. I’m afraid Jaytsy might start picking it up.”

  Shem chuckled. “Sareen’s incredibly persistent. I don’t want to be impolite, but—”

  “Keep being polite,” Perrin advised. “Rudeness simply isn’t your nature. But also be very brief. Eventually she may lose interest when she realizes you’re not expressing any.”

  “Did that work for you?”

  Half of Perrin’s mouth lifted into a smile. “Now what makes you think I ever had young women infatuated with me?”

  “Just stands to reason,” Shem shrugged. “I imagine that with your father’s position and that fact that you’re . . . um, I suppose that women found—or rather, still find you . . . What I mean is—”

  Perrin chuckled as his corporal grew red.

  “Enough digging your own latrine, Zenos. But yes, there was a girl or two. And occasionally you have to firmly tell one that you really aren’t interested, but usually they pick that up on their own.”

  Shem sighed. “I sure hope so. She’s getting a bit annoying.”

  “To put it politely,” Perrin said. “Well, there are some nice girls at Luntings’ congregation.”

  Shem nodded reluctantly. “I’ve seen a few. But it’s hard to meet them. Rector Lunting doesn’t have those smaller meetings like Rector Densal had. Everyone’s just packed into that large barn now. Maybe we can convince a third rector to move here, with smaller meetings again, or get Mr. Metz to come back and start a congregation?”

  Perrin looked down at his horse as it plodded to the next tower station.

  “Shem,” he began hesitantly, “I think the problem may be Mahrree and I. Maybe you shouldn’t sit with us, or take the children out when they fuss. Since we’re the only soldiers there, maybe we should spread out a little. Let some of those girls find their way next to you?”

  “Actually, sir,” Shem watched his horse too, “sitting with your family is the best part of my week.”

  Perrin would never admit it out loud, but it was his favorite part, too. If ever he’d had a little brother, he would have been exactly like Shem.

  “Sir, I’d hate to sit alone,” the corporal said. “Besides, most of the girls aren’t really listening, always passing little notes to their friends,” he murmured. “They’re not quite right either. What I want is a girl that thinks, that cares, that talks to me like . . . like . . . like . . .”

  “My wife?” Perrin suggested carefully.

  “Yes! But probably younger, sir. Oh,” Shem cringed. “That did not come out right—”

  Perrin laughed. “It’s all right, Shem. I’d be more concerned if you didn’t say that!”

  Shem glanced at him to make sure the major’s amusement was genuine. He sighed in relief. “And someone like my sister, sir. She and your wife are so alike. And their opinions are very important to me. Almost as important as yours.”

  Perrin smiled. “She feels the same way about you, you know. Mahrree thinks of you as a little brother.” He didn’t feel the need to admit anything more than that.

  “I know sir, and I appreciate that. It makes being away from home easier. I never had a mother that I remember, but my sister took care of me the same way your wife does.” He chuckled. “A few weeks ago when I visited them, my sister gave me my brother-in-law’s pillow to sleep on!”

  “Ah, so you’re used to stealing other men’s pillows,” Perrin glared at him playfully. “How old is your sister?”

  “About the same age as you and Mrs. Shin.”

  Perrin nodded thoughtfully, surprised to finally hear something about Shem’s family. He rarely spoke about them. “That’s quite a range between children.”

  “Not that much. Ten years. But it turned out well. My sister helped care for me after my mother died when I was two. I often thought the Creator did that span in our ages on purpose. Still, my father complains he had to wait ten years to get his boy.”

  “Patient man.”

  “Usually, yes,” Shem said. “But when I went home on leave he said, ‘Waited ten years for my boy, and now he lives as far away from me as he can! Where have you been all this time?’” Shem laughed, a bit sadly.

  Perrin stared straight ahead, a thought forming in his head that he didn’t like at all. But it would’ve been dishonest to not share it.

  He cleared his throat. “Zenos, the fort in Flax will be completed in the next few weeks. I know the colonel who’s taking it over. He’s still looking for men. If you want to transfer closer to your father, to those girls . . . Consider, you could always transfer back here again later—”

  Shem had turned abruptly in his saddle halfway through the major’s proposal. “No, sir! This is where I belong!”

  Perrin leaned back in his saddle, surprised by Shem’s earnestness. “Just consider it, Shem. As much as I’d hate to lose you—and I suspect that Mahrree wouldn’t let me back into the house should I let you go—perhaps this is what your father needs.” His voice became quiet. “I can’t imagine how I’d feel if Peto left me and I didn’t have Mahrree anymore. I’d probably get on Jaytsy’s nerves.”

  Shem smiled. “Sir, I appreciate the thought, but my father’s fine with where I am. He’s just a big tease like me. He knows who you are and wouldn’t want me serving anywhere else.”

  Something in those words struck Perrin oddly. “He knows who I am?”

  Shem nodded. “By association, I mean. One year he travelled to Idumea to sell some of his herd to the army, and he ran into the High General. They spoke only for a f
ew minutes, but my father was impressed. When I told him I wanted to re-enlist long term, he said he’d be fine with it as long as I was always under your command.”

  “Even if you could live closer to home?”

  “Especially if I could live closer to home!” he laughed, but then sobered. “Please, Major Shin, let me stay here?”

  His tone was so worried that Perrin was stunned. “Of course, of course. Wouldn’t want to upset Mr. Zenos now, would I?”

  Shem sighed. “I’m fine here, sir. Really. And if you really don’t want to upset my father, you will not cheat in the relay race today. That is, after all, the only chance you have of beating me, Grandpy.”

  Perrin’s mouth dropped open, shocked at the sudden insubordination, but he immediately closed it.

  Because the game was on.

  “Thirty-one years old is hardly a grandpy, boy.”

  Zenos glared at him. “We’ll see,” he said briskly. “You’re birthday is in five days and I’ve been invited over for cake. You’ll be thirty-two, and that’s old.”

  He was already improving at stifling his snort.

  Chapter 18 ~ “All that cheering wasn’t just for you, Corporal!”

  Forty minutes later two soldiers stood ready, watching out large windows in the forward office of the tower.

  But they didn’t stand still.

  They bounced and nudged and jostled each other as they surveyed the skyline in the south and west. Their eyes darted from one new tower to another, anticipating the first signals. Captain Karna waited in the compound below them, with Neeks and Gizzada on either side him. The three had faced their horses towards the main gates to follow the racers once they left.

  Lieutenant Walickiah, in charge of ensuring a fair start and monitoring the banner changes, shook his head as he evaluated the situation before him. Shin was unpredictable, and now the relationship Walickiah saw between the major and the corporal explained a great deal as to why the Quiet Man hadn’t been talking. Walickiah had yet to get him alone, and now he suspected why: either they were losing him to the major, or he was even more duplicitous than even Walickiah. And that was saying something.

  The major and the corporal had already shed their caps, jackets, and weapons, and left them sloppily on the large desk behind them. The race was no longer a test of the new system, nor to see how quickly a soldier in full uniform could respond.

  It was personal.

  Besides, the major had reasoned out loud a few minutes ago, it would be easier for the soldiers in the stations to see them coming in their white undershirts. And Zenos could take his off to signal his surrender when he was ready to quit.

  That’s when the poking started.

  Walickiah had been standing between Shin and Zenos to make sure it was a fair start—Karna’s orders. But when the major made that comment about the corporal surrendering, Zenos leaned behind the lieutenant and poked the major hard in the ribs while muttering something that sounded like “grandpy”.

  Walickiah had frozen in shock. Even out of uniform, one does not poke one’s commanding officer. He didn’t know where that was written, but he was sure it had to be somewhere. There was no other option but to cancel the race and throw the corporal into confinement. What else could an officer do?

  Apparently poke back, for starters.

  Maybe if Walickiah hadn’t been so startled he would have reacted more quickly.

  Shin squinted severely at his corporal and lunged to poke Zenos, who was bouncing erratically. The major missed and Walickiah caught the furious finger in his ribs instead. Shin tried to utter an apology as Zenos snorted a laugh, and Walickiah was starting to say, “Oh, not a problem, sir,” when he took another jab, this time from Zenos.

  Survival instinct finally kicked in as Walickiah raised his hands and moved to the back of the office to watch from a safe distance.

  Now the two grown men were punching each other’s shoulders like thirteen-year-olds, still trying to keep their eyes on the village towers.

  Walickiah almost considered the situation amusing, if it weren’t so immature. The men acted more as brothers than as a commander and a mere enlisted man.

  As he observed the major and his baby tender start slapping each other as they tried to cover the other man’s eyes, he had to agree—this was a most interesting assignment. Very little of what really was going on in the fort was known beyond Edge.

  Yet he’d never heard of another fort where morale was so high. Every soldier was eagerly awaiting the race, stationed throughout Edge. Several unofficial bets had been placed as to the outcome, and there was even a rumor that cake would be served afterwards.

  A flash of orange cloth unfurling in the distance caught Walickiah’s eye, followed immediately by a flash of blue just beyond it.

  The two men scrambled over each other to be the first down the stairs. The Unk was first and leaped down the last six steps. He stumbled as he landed awkwardly, and the major rushed past him.

  “Hey, no pushing, sir!” Zenos yelled.

  Shin laughed. “You’re just clumsy, boy!” His voice faded away as he ran out to the compound.

  Walickiah quickly stepped over to the window. By the time the men reached the gates they were running shoulder to shoulder.

  Karna looked up to wave at Walickiah, and then he, Neeks, and Gizzada kicked their horses to follow the runners.

  All alone Walickiah finally allowed himself to smile. This was a most unusual fort, and it certainly wasn’t going to be a boring assignment. In many ways, Major Shin almost seemed like a man worth getting to know.

  It was almost too bad Walickiah was there to destroy him.

  ---

  Perrin cut across a road littered with crunching red and yellow leaves on his sprint towards the orange banner. Shem had parted ways with him as they entered Edge, and he now raced towards the blue banner. They each knew the pattern of the colors they were to watch for. Which tower would hoist the next color—that was for them to discover.

  Perrin saw the soldier standing at the base of the tower, the one closest to his home. He was smiling as he held out the small piece of paper.

  “Major Shin,” the soldier yelled as Perrin approached. “Chief of enforcement needs help finding a lost child in the neighborhood. You need to go to this location for your next note!”

  Perrin slowed to grab the note and jogged as he read the location. He groaned, shoved the paper in his front pocket, leaped over a low fence and sprinted through two gardens, to the cheers of his neighbors. Then he ran up the road to a house he knew all too well.

  Mahrree stood on the front porch waving a piece of paper, Peto in her arms, and Jaytsy jumping up and down and clapping. As Perrin bounded up the stairs to snatch the note, she held it back.

  “I understand there’s a story behind this ‘lost child’? Promise to tell me?”

  “I will! Now hand it over!”

  She grinned and gave it to him. “Go, Perrin!” she called as he ran out of their yard towards the next tower in the northeast section of Edge, which now showed a red banner.

  Karna, don’t get too comfortable in that new captain’s jacket of yours, Perrin thought as he slowed his gait slightly to pace himself over the next several roads. True, he’d told only Shem not to mention anything about Peto’s wandering off, but . . . well, Brillen was shaping up to be a clever officer.

  No wonder he’d sent Gizzada to follow him instead of accompanying the major himself. Initially, Perrin had thought it an intentional insult when realize his accompaniment would be hefty Gizzada, mounted on a massive plow horse with astonishing stamina. It wasn’t the swiftest animal, but it could certainly handle ten miles at a steady trot.

  But now Perrin realized Brillen was likely trying to preserve his career. After that first stop, Perrin would have demoted him to lieutenant, right on the spot.

  By the end of the race, if this first stop was any indication, Brillen would have found himself reduced to Private Karna.

 
---

  Shem ran easily towards the middle of the Edge, a route he knew well. He was to report to the village green tower he and Perrin had just left, now flying a blue banner. Several hundred people still stood around and a loud cheer arose as he approached. At the base of the tower stood one of the soldiers assigned to it.

  “General’s arrived, Zenos! You’re to greet him and retrieve your next note.” The soldier grinned and pointed as Zenos looked in vain for the paper that was to be in the sergeant’s hands. Shem spun quickly to see where it was, and he tried not to whimper.

  The Zenos banner girls beamed at him.

  Sareen was wearing a borrowed soldier’s cap and waved a small piece of paper, her shoulders and areas below still exposed to the cool air. Shem rushed over to Sareen, but she thrust the note behind her. She grabbed Shem’s undershirt with her free hand, pulled him close, and planted a big, wet kiss on his mouth.

  Probably something she learned from Barker, was the only thing Shem could clearly think at that moment.

  But he’d also learned a few things—unofficially—about being a soldier in the past year and a season. The first was not to be surprised by anything. Even if you are surprised, do your best to pretend you’re not. The second was to never forget your main objective. The third was to never close your eyes, if you can help it, no matter what’s thrown at you.

  Corporal Zenos remembered it all.

  His reach was longer than Sareen’s, and faster than she could finish her kiss he snatched the note out of her hand, pulled out of her grip, and took off towards a yellow banner he saw at a distant tower. He ignored the other girls’ cries of, “Not fair!” and “I didn’t get a turn!” as he ran west.

  Grandpy Neeks, following him on horseback, laughed.