by Trish Mercer
Chapter 17 ~ "Some rules are meant to be broken by the right men."
Karna was never so happy to see the sunrise, or so Perrin deduced by the look of relief on his lieutenant's face. But the light only revealed just how deep they were in the forest that growled around them. For the past several hours they'd been following shouts that moved west.
At least, he assumed it was west. Perrin judged direction based on the slope of the forest. Down had to be south, up was north, so he was facing west with sun rising behind him.
Already they had surprised one Guarder-and themselves, to be honest-and chased him toward the edge of the forest where several soldiers captured him. Now they were about fifty paces behind another two Guarders, visible at the edges of large grassy patches and moving toward Moorland.
But Moorland, ten miles to the west of Edge, didn't know a battle was coming. Because the village was so sparsely populated, they didn't even have a fort yet, just a converted barn and a dozen soldiers recently sent there to help since the village lost a herd of cattle to the Guarders. Perrin wasn't about to leave them overwhelmed.
In the distance he saw one of the men in black turn up and north. Through the trees the figure trotted, skirting past a swath of dead pines standing in dirt that was-oddly-white. In the middle of the soil-or perhaps it was now white rock, Perrin wasn't sure-and among the blackened tree trunks was a gaping hole which belched out hot water, sending it nearly ten feet into the air. Steaming, the water followed a channel in the ground and disappeared into another crevice a few hundred paces away.
Perrin signaled to Karna behind him, and wordlessly the two officers, keeping to the trees, jogged north as well. Captain Shin kept his eye on the black figure that popped in and out of the tree shadows, while making sure that he never touched the white ground that reeked of sulfur.
He kept his other eye on the trees, though, trying to figure out why he felt so comfortable picking his way through them when he should have been terrified.
---
"What should we do with him, Sergeant Major?" the younger sergeant asked cheerfully as he and his men stood just beyond the tree line.
Wiles stared in amazement at the Guarder bound by rope around his wrists and ankles.
The man in black glared back at Wiles.
"How was he captured?" Wiles asked, barely above a whisper.
"Captain and Lieutenant chased him right into our waiting arms!" a corporal announced, grinning at the three other men.
Wiles gestured lamely to the bound man. "How did you-Why did you-"
"Captain Shin ordered us," explained a satisfied private. "Said to me, 'You grew up on a ranch, right? Use your rope.'"
"So you . . . you hog-tied him?" Wiles said in disbelief.
"Actually, it's called calf tying," the private clarified, sniffing with authority.
"Granted, we don't teach that in training," the sergeant said proudly, "but we ought to."
The soldiers laughed, their fear gone now that their enemy was immobile.
But Wiles's anxiety had increased so much that he couldn't move. "But. . . but Guarders are never captured."
The wooden expression on the Guarder's face told Wiles the reminder wasn't necessary.
"Until today," the sergeant grinned. "Rather like Shin's thinking. He wants him held for questioning. And if the captain interrogates as well as the High General, well I have high hopes for the future of the Army of Idumea."
Wiles didn't notice the proud chuckling of the three soldiers as they gazed at their prize.
"Interrogation?" Wiles muttered and turned a sickly gray.
The Guarder's glare turned brittle as the two men shared a look.
"Didn't drill for this," Wiles said under his breath. He slowly walked backward, oblivious to the look of surprise the soldiers now wore. "Not according to plan . . ."
---
At midday meal Perrin didn't return. Mahrree wanted to believe she was ready for his absence, but she knew that was a lie. She'd lived alone for years, so why was she worried now? Her belly churned in dread and fear.
Perhaps this was one of those days her father had warned her about. The world really was out to get her.
Or her new husband.
---
Captain Shin and his loyal lieutenant paused to look around.
All they saw now were pine trees, so close to each other it seemed that at any moment they might break out in a fight for sunshine. But that was all right. Just ten minutes ago two more Guarders had been stunned to find themselves chased out of the forest. Then the captain took some emergency food rations from the soldiers and hauled his weary lieutenant right back into the thick of the trees again.
Karna sighed.
Perrin smiled to himself. There was a lot associated with that sigh. "Tell me, Brillen. It's your job, you know. You're my third and fourth hands, as they say, so I rely on you to keep me informed and on task."
Karna made a "Pfft!" sound, which was likely the most insubordinate noise he'd ever uttered.
Perrin grinned and turned around to face his second in command. "You have something to say, Brillen?"
Karna froze, stunned. His face registered frustration, agitation, and now uneasiness as he realized his "Pfft!" was audible.
What he finally said surprised the captain. "Why do you call me Brillen, sir?"
Perrin blinked. "Why not? We're not around the other soldiers-why shouldn't I call you by your first name?"
Karna licked his parched lips. "It's not protocol, sir."
Perrin grinned again. "I'm not exactly protocol."
Karna threw his hands in the air. "Really? I hadn't noticed!" he exclaimed in a rare show of sarcasm.
Perrin folded his arms, fascinated. "I've never seen you like this, Brillen. Normally you're so by-the-book I could use you as a reference guide. Getting annoyed with your commander isn't exactly protocol either. But I heartily approve. Keep it up!" He slapped the lieutenant on the shoulder.
Karna took a deep breath and twitched his complimented shoulder. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Only if you call me Perrin. It's only fair, Brillen."
"Sir!"
Amused, Perrin said, "Sir?"
Seeing the lieutenant couldn't come as far as Perrin was hoping, he patted his shoulder again in a conciliatory manner. "Go ahead."
Karna cleared his throat formally. "Sir. As your third and fourth hands, it is my duty to inform you that . . ." He gestured lamely to their surroundings. "We're breaking every rule in the book!"
"I know."
"Your FATHER'S book!"
"I know."
"Your GRANDFATHER'S first rule!" Karna's voice a full octave higher now. "First rule states, 'No man-'"
"Goes into the forest, blah-blah-and-ahem, yes I know," Perrin said dully. "So that's what's bothering you?"
Karna gestured again with his arms outstretched. Obviously the captain had gone blind and stupid in the last several hours.
Perrin smiled in understanding. "I'm not showing disrespect to my grandfather, if that makes you feel any better."
Karna squinted dubiously.
Perrin glanced around to make sure they were still alone. The immediate forest was remarkably still. "You see, my grandfather was an excellent man, Brillen. Do you mind if I call you Brillen? Better get used to it, because you're also my second mind, and I can't refer to my own thoughts in a formal manner, so neither will I refer to you formally. As I was saying-" he continued, ignoring the baffled expression of his lieutenant, "-my grandfather was an excellent man. Better than most people ever knew. Yes, he set that first rule, but in order to keep the world out of harm's way. He didn't want the common man, woman, child, or soldier risking their lives unnecessarily by stepping into the forests. Hence, the law."
"Which you have broken. Which you tried to break several weeks ago," Karna reminded.
His mouth opened and his eyes narrowed as a new understanding came to him.
"Which you intended
to break for a long time now, haven't you, sir? You came to Edge precisely to enter the forests!"
If he feared his allegation would offend the captain, Karna was going to be surprised.
Perrin merely shrugged and raised his eyebrows in reluctant confession.
"You did!" Karna nearly shouted, forgetting to keep his voice down to avoid calling Guarders to their position. "You came here deliberately to break the law! Sir!"
Seeing the worry in his lieutenant's eyes-he'd have to report his commander as noncompliant!-Perrin put his hands on Karna's shoulders. "With my grandfather's approval, I promise."
"Oh, that's convenient to claim," Karna snarled. "He's dead!"
Perrin blinked at the outburst, and Karna slapped his hand across his mouth. "That sounded so awful, sir!" His voice was muffled. "I'm so sorry."
Perrin just shook his head and chuckled. "Don't be-I'm quite enjoying this new display of independence from you, Brillen. And don't cringe like that to your name, just get used to it. You see, while my grandfather made the rules, he also had an interesting perspective about them: some rules are meant to be broken by the right men. A rule may not be a good one, and begs to be violated so that it can be replaced by a better one."
"Again," Karna said, but this time more carefully, "that's convenient reasoning for violating the law."
"But that doesn't mean it's wrong," Perrin suggested. He looked off into the distance as if he could see beyond the twenty paces of dense fir trees. "Sometimes the right man must go where no one else has dared to. He may be the only one that can go over the wall, break down the door, or go into the forest and see, once and for all, what's really happening. That's because he's the only one who can actually do something about it."
Karna was silent for a moment, then eventually said, "Go over the wall, sir?" He glanced around, not seeing any walls.
Perrin blinked out of his thoughts, ignored the last question, and glanced over at the lieutenant. "My turn to ask a question-why'd you follow me in here?"
Next to any other man, Brillen Karna wouldn't have looked so short. He steeled his stocky frame before giving his answer. "Because I was following your orders!"
"Fair enough. But you could have rejected my orders. No one would've blamed you."
Karna raised his eyebrows. "Obviously you didn't see the look on your face last night. No one would have survived had I opposed you. Sir," he remembered to add.
Perrin chuckled. He wasn't sure why he felt so at ease in the trees. That should have alarmed him, he knew. More than the idea that he was, in fact, in the forest. "Well, I'm glad you're with me. We've already had success and I'm confident we'll have more. If we ever get our bearings again," he added in a mumble. "The only thing I'm sure of is 'downhill.' Everything downhill must be 'out'."
Karna mumbled something, too, as he gave the trees an agitated glare.
"What was that?" Perrin asked.
Karna's troubled he-heard-me look returned. "I . . . just, uh . . ."
"Spit it out, Brillen. And stop grimacing."
Karna gulped. "Maybe I mentioned something about following your father's orders is more difficult than anticipated. Sir."
Intrigued, Perrin put his hands on his waist. "What orders might those be? From his book about command?"
"From his instructions to me, just before I left to come here."
A corner of Perrin's mouth lifted into a subtle smile. "Which were . . . ?"
"'Keep my son out of trouble.' Sir."
"He really said that to you?"
"Along with a few other bits of instruction. Warnings. Threats-"
"Sounds like the High General," Captain Shin chuckled. "He's the one who recommended you to me, you know."
Karna looked surprised. "Because I earned the highest marks in his class, sir?"
"Or I suppose he thought you'd be the best man to remind me of my duty."
Karna sighed heavily. "Obviously I'm failing at that."
"Oh, not at all," Perrin assured him. "I'm just ignoring your reminders." He laughed at Brillen's scowl.
---
The two men dressed in mottled clothing with fresh green branches tied to their tunics sat so high in the trees that they couldn't hear the conversation, but they were fascinated all the same.
Why was the captain so comfortable in the forest?
The men formed some speculations, then observed in amazement as the two officers made their way further into the trees.
---
Two more.
There were two more Guarders, tied hands to feet, and lying helpless on their sides. There was no need to gag them because they weren't about to say anything. Their glares spoke volumes, though.
Wiles could barely move as he stared at the next two prisoners.
"Men are doing quite well, aren't they?" said a master sergeant as he folded his arms in victory. "In my fifteen years in the army I've never seen anything like this. None of this is going according to army protocol, but then again, why should it be the Guarders dictating how we battle them? Captain Shin's quite the innovative young officer, isn't he? Said he'll just keep chasing Guarders downhill through the trees, so we best just keep catching them!"
Wiles felt his chest tighten and grow hot.
The master sergeant frowned at him. "Wiles, are you all right? You're sweating."
"It's hot," was all Wiles could reply.
"Not really," his companion said as he looked up to the sun. "Today's much cooler than yesterday . . ."
Wiles continued to stare, almost apologetically, at the Guarders.
The Guarders didn't even blink at him.
"So," said the master sergeant, unsure of how to respond to the sergeant major's unusual lack of enthusiasm for their success, "do we leave them here-guarded, of course-or do we lug them back to the fort? Shin's still in the trees with Karna, sure they can find a few more volunteers for questioning. Wiles? Sir?"
Wiles's shoulders dropped and he rubbed his chest absent-mindedly. Without another word he turned and trudged back to the fort.
---
Hours later, Captain Shin wondered again why the army proudly insisted that the buttons on their uniforms "glisten in the sun." It was just a signal that said, "Come get me!"
He paused at a trickling stream below a large cavern, took a handful of mud, and smeared it over the dried dirt that was flaking off of his buttons.
Lieutenant Karna crouched next to him and recaked his silver menaces as well.
Perrin envied him; the darker hue to his skin allowed Brillen to blend in better with his surroundings. Perrin was tempted for a moment to rub some of the mud over his own gravel-colored face, until he had another thought.
He looked over at Karna's jacket, smiled mischievously, and smeared mud over the yellow patches and white insignias on the shoulder and chest of his lieutenant. Conquering the forest was doable. You just had to become part of it.
Karna raised his eyebrows in dismay at his jacket, but then he scooped a handful mud and eagerly slapped it on the captain's shoulder. For good measure he rubbed it in to dull the golden shoulder braid. Smiling, he mouthed, "Tell wife sorry."
Captain Shin winced as he looked at his much more functional, yet filthy, jacket.
His wife.
He hadn't considered her much since they entered the forest. His focus had been singular, his resolve unswerving. She didn't need his concern. She'd lived alone for years, and probably hadn't even noticed he was gone. Might not even realize until dinner time.
As he started to creep up the shrub-filled hillside, trying to catch sight of the Guarder they'd been following, he felt a gnawing in his stomach, and it wasn't just from hunger.
Of course she would miss him. She was probably searching the fort right now, trying to find out where he went. It'd be ridiculous if she did, but Mahrree was the kind of woman who didn't care what kind of behavior was expected. She'd do whatever struck her as right and logical.
Perrin shook his hea
d to clear it. He couldn't afford to think of her right now. The best thing he could do was bring her home his filthy uniform, with him still alive inside it.
Shin and Karna continued to crawl up the side of the crevice which produced such an awful stench-a mixture of sulfur and decay-that the two men wore constant scowls. But the forest really was traversable, Perrin considered, even if occasionally repulsive.
Given enough time he could map all of its secrets.
First, uphill was in, and downhill was out-usually. There were dips and valleys he discovered that flouted that rule, but he'd find them all.
Second, he noticed that wherever there was danger-gaping chasms, sprays of hot water, stenches of sulfur-the trees didn't grow. Instead, the ground was barren and white, making it easily identifiable. Contrary to everything he'd been taught, the trees were the safest parts of the forest.
But convincing the soldiers to overcome their generations-old fear of the woods would be an immense hurdle. But not impossible.
Perhaps this was why his grandfather had pulled him aside when he was twelve and gave him the lecture of, "Some rules are meant to be broken by the right men. Perrin, you will be one of those rare 'right' men . . ."
The Guarder they tracked was now at the top of crevice, and the captain and lieutenant crept among the shrubs below it toward the west side. The Guarder, dressed completely in black, was obvious in the sunshine as he squatted between two white rocks and looked below him for signs of activity.
Shin stopped and held out his hand to halt Karna. Even with their attempts to blend in, the scrubby brush and low rocks around them didn't offer much cover.
The Guarder saw someone, below and to the east on the other side of the crevice.
Perrin squinted in the sunshine and noticed another man in dark clothing climbing up to meet his companion.
The first man gestured in the general direction of Shin and Karna. The second man nodded and turned to look toward the officers.
Perrin held his breath and hoped Brillen did the same.
The second man broke into a run and raced up the side of the crevice.
"Been spotted," Shin whispered down to Karna, and he heard Karna quietly draw his sword. Perrin drew his too, but continued to crawl between the bushes toward the top of the cavern.
"There!" he heard the man at the top of the cavern shout.
The second man now reached the first and together they began to rush down the other side of the crevice toward Shin and Karna's position.
"Stay down, under that bush!" Perrin whispered to Brillen behind him.
As the lieutenant scrambled, Perrin crawled between more bushes and rolled away from the crevice.
Within moments the two Guarders arrived at the spot where the captain had been. They stopped and looked frantically around.
Shin leaped to his feet, swung his sword, and caught the first Guarder with the flat side of the blade. He didn't want him dead; he wanted him for questioning.
The man flailed as his footing shifted on the loose gravel below him and he fell backward. His companion caught his arm as the first man began to slip on the edge of the cavern.
"No!" the first Guarder shouted as he lost his footing and began to slide into the crevice.
Karna leaped to his feet but stared in amazement at what happened next. So did Perrin, whose sword was raised to deliver another blow he had hoped would render the Guarder unconscious.
The second man nodded once to his companion and deliberately let him go. Without a sound the Guarder fell into the groaning cavern below him.
While Shin and Karna stared in shock that the Guarder let his friend drop to his death, the man drew his jagged dagger and lunged toward the captain.
Perrin dodged out of the way and slashed the Guarder's arm with his sword as he passed.
The Guarder spun around, furious to have been cut. Making a strange guttural noise, he charged at the captain. Shin sidestepped the Guarder who overshot his target, barely stopping himself at the edge of the crevice.
Instinctively Perrin reached out to grab the man and caught his arm before he fell in.
"What are you doing?" Karna yelled. "Let him fall!"
"I want answers!" Shin yelled back.
The Guarder turned to Shin, delivered a frosty glare, and slashed at him with his dagger. Perrin released the man's arm to avoid being cut, and the Guarder fell back purposely into the crevice where his companion had just vanished.
"No!" Perrin cried, looking over the edge.
There was nothing more to be seen but blackness.
Karna rushed over and shook his head as he stared down into the seemingly bottomless pit. "Why did they do that? They just . . . they just quit. I don't get it, Captain!"
"Neither do I, Brillen. So many questions to ask them-maybe that's why. They don't want to give any answers."
"So . . . so what's the point of all of this? Why attack us if they're just going to commit suicide? They had a good chance at killing one or both of us-"
"Your confidence in me is overwhelming, Lieutenant," interrupted the captain.
"I'm sorry, sir, that's not what I meant. It's just that . . . I don't get it."
"We've established that," Perrin said impatiently. "I'll tell you what's happened: the two highest ranked officers of Edge are standing miles away from the fort in unfamiliar territory staring into a crevice which no longer holds any danger for us. What we need to be doing, Lieutenant, is finding the rest of the Guarders and our men!"
---
Mahrree spent the afternoon standing in the vacant land next to the main fort road. And she wasn't alone. Dozens of people came and went, none approaching closer than Mahrree had, and all speculating as to what was happening. She watched the trees and tried to see her husband among the soldiers, but she didn't dare approach the fort to interfere. There was a constant stream of horses and soldiers riding back and forth, with accompanying shouting, so obviously something was going on.
"Looks like a full exercise to me," decided a villager.
"As if you would know. This is more than just an exercise," said a larger man in his fifties. "Right Miss Mahrree?" He'd known Mahrree since she was a child, when he and his wife moved next door to the Petos. She'd always be Miss Mahrree.
"I don't know, Mr. Arky," she confessed. "I haven't seen the captain since all of this started."
He cleared his throat. "You haven't? You mean, this might actually be the first Guarder attack in Edge in thirty years?"
Everyone within hearing distance took a step closer for Mahrree's response.
She knew she had to make it a good one. What she said would travel throughout the village in less than an hour. Their perception of the situation was more real than anything they might be seeing. But all Mahrree could think to say was, "I really don't know. As I said, I haven't seen the captain for two days."
The news unsettled her as much as it did everyone else around her.
She walked home, lonely and worried, when the sun finally set in the blood-red sky.
As Mahrree blew out the candles that night she felt a bit light-headed with silly fear. In her hand she kept the metal rod Perrin gave her, but she slept in fits and starts.
By morning she was so irritable her stomach couldn't hold any food. She made it through the day but found herself napping on the sofa in the afternoon. She surprised herself by wishing her mother was around, but Hycymum was treating herself to a stay at Waves, a grueling wagon ride four days away. When someone undertook the extreme discomfort of traveling, it was a sign they thought they were aging and wanted to see the salty sea before they died. Now that Mahrree was married, Hycymum thought her time must be growing short and took the "old person" trip, even though she was only forty-eight.
Mahrree was alone. That shouldn't have bothered her, but it did.
She couldn't confide in any of the other teachers or even to Tabbit Densal that suddenly she was scared sick. It was so unlike her.<
br />
---
Captain Shin was lost-really lost. It was so unlike him. The last several hours of the afternoon hadn't been for nothing, though. They'd already chased another Guarder into the hands of waiting soldiers. That would be four men the captain would interrogate with his most pressing question, "What do you want?"
The night before, he and the lieutenant had found their way to the edge of the forest between Edge and Moorland. They wolfed down some rations provided by ten soldiers who had been tracking their progress, and the captain and lieutenant even got a few hours of sleep while the soldiers took turns keeping watch. But Perrin's rest was disturbed by dreams of his bride fighting off Guarders in their bedroom. Even with the unprecedented Guarder captures, Shin still felt he was losing the battle.
Battle.
It didn't feel like a battle but an absurd game where only one side knew the rules and the other side tried vainly to figure out the players and the objective.
For the last several hours he and Karna had been tracking another 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 location again, he navigated by tiny green growth.
Had this been happening twenty years ago, after the forest fire, 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 times 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 heading 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, but they could never quite catch up to him. He knew the forest better than they did, but just barely. By the time the sun started to go down, the Guarder in the distance was looking around disoriented, 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, knowing 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 at 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 . . ."