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

by Trish Mercer

  The warmth. The repetition. The evidence that something was improving. A sense that while everything else was spinning out of one’s control, at least the clothes were relatively clean. In that washing room, one small corner of the world was in Mahrree’s power, even if it meant she was scrubbed Peto’s work trousers so hard that the knee was wearing thin.

  But she wasn’t about to stop until their work clothes were bright again. Something had to be, because everything else for the past two days and nights had been dark and heavy.

  There had been no news.

  Nothing since the long second message arrived from General Cush an hour after Shem rode away from their house. The message detailed what had happened that awful morning when Relf and Joriana were discovered stabbed to death in their bed by one of the maids. Three Guarders and two soldiers were killed, one was seriously injured, and Riplak had come up missing. Kindiri was found bludgeoned and unconscious in the Great Hall, but the two maids upstairs had slept through it all until the morning.

  Then . . . no more news.

  Yesterday was the longest day Mahrree. The burial was to have been yesterday evening, according to Cush’s message. Perhaps Perrin and Shem made it to Idumea, unless . . .

  Today had proved to be as slow and unbearable as yesterday. Mahrree, Jaytsy, and Peto sifted rubble and moved debris again—anything to distract their imaginations from what might be happening in the middle of the world. They kept their heads low to avoid speaking to anyone, but it didn’t help.

  Again villagers hurried over to hug them, weep for a few minutes, and tell them how brave General Shin was, how lovely Mrs. Shin seemed to be, and—worst of all—to ask how the colonel was handling the news.

  The only thing Mahrree could say was, “He’s gone to Idumea. Thank you for your concern. Can I help you with that rock now?”

  But there were a few people whose embraces she gratefully accepted.

  “Oh, Miss Mahrree! I’ve been looking all over for you,” Teeria Rigoff called as she rushed over to the Shins while they added broken dishes to a rubbish wagon. “Milo told me there’s still no word?”

  Mahrree tried to smile bravely at one of her favorite former students, but it was a pitiful attempt. “No, nothing yet,” was all she could whisper. Only the fort knew that Perrin had left in a fit of temper, and was followed by Shem.

  Teeria sighed. “And what about the sergeant that Karna sent after them?”

  “Haven’t heard back from him either,” Mahrree murmured.

  “Then send out more!” Teeria insisted. “Milo said he’d—”

  “Lieutenant Rigoff is needed here, as are all of the other soldiers,” Mahrree said firmly. “Karna told me last night he’d go himself, but I told him no. Edge needs its major, especially now. Look around, Teeria! The village is still a mess. Every man is needed. Besides,” she said in a quieter tone to avoid the attention of Edgers trying to listen in as they dropped more rubbish into the wagon, “this is a family matter.”

  Teeria narrowed her eyes. “Miss Mahrree, others may not remember, but I certainly do. You taught us that we are all family. Colonel Shin and Master Sergeant Zenos are like my brothers. I’ve known them since I was a teenager. I volunteer my husband to find my brothers! And Poe Hili wants to help, too. Just say the word.”

  Mahrree couldn’t fight the tears welling in her eyes. “Thank you, Teeria,” she said. “Maybe tomorrow, if we have no news.”

  Teeria nodded, satisfied that Mahrree was finally considering accepting help. “They’ll be fine, Miss Mahrree. I know it.”

  Mahrree sighed. “No, you don’t, Teeria. What’d we discuss in class about ‘knowing’?”

  Teeria smiled dutifully. She never forgot a lesson. “That we shouldn’t claim to know something unless we really do. That what we know isn’t the same as what we hope for.”

  “So,” Mahrree said analytically, “you don’t ‘know’ that they’re all right. Neither do I. All we can do is—” She faltered, unable to keep up the pretense of teacher.

  And Teeria was no longer her student as she hugged Mahrree again. “Then I hope,” she whispered, “with all that I have. And I’ll cling to that to get me through until we hear something more, just as you will.”

  “Very good, Teeria,” Mahrree sniffed. “There’s a reason you were always my favorite student.”

  “And not just because I married the lieutenant you thought was a perfect match for me?”

  Mahrree almost managed a smile. “That helped, I must admit.”

  Teeria released Mahrree. “I also feel it,” she said quietly, “although I know we can be deceived by our feelings. But I feel a sense of calm when I think about them.”

  While Mahrree did too, it was the lack of news which was most distressing—the not knowing.

  But as Mahrree scrubbed Jaytsy’s tunic, she had an idea. If only the Administrators would realize no one read the notices they forced the printers to create, maybe they’d let them send out useful updates instead, about discoveries, improvements, bodies found along the side of the road . . .

  Maybe not.

  As she rung out Jaytsy’s tunic, she tried to concentrate on what would need to be done tomorrow, but all she could think of were . . . bodies on the side of the road.

  If someone found Perrin or Shem lying injured or worse, how would they know who he was?

  Names, Mahrree thought as she held up Jaytsy’s light brown top, now a permanently darker brown. Names needed to be on their uniforms, or on papers in their pockets, or maybe even engraved on thin pieces of metal hung around their necks. Something to identify who they are and to tell others where to return them.

  Mahrree set aside the tunic and put one of her skirts in the warm water, feeling badly again for the poor sergeant sent out after Perrin and Shem. He finally arrived back in Edge that afternoon, about two hours after Mahrree had spoken to Teeria.

  Major Karna and the sergeant brought the news to Mahrree as she worked at a neighbor’s house. “He made it only as far as the first messenger station,” Karna sighed.

  Jaytsy and Peto came over from their work to hear the update.

  “And? Did you see them?” Mahrree asked with her hands balled in nervous fists.

  “Ma’am, they were there all right,” the sergeant replied with contempt dripping from his voice. He tried to keep it low to avoid sharing the news of his commander, but several people in the area were leaning subtly over to hear. Gossip was a major pastime in Edge, and with the entertainments temporarily halted, the saga of the Shins was the most popular distraction in the entire village.

  “I didn’t steal two horses or beat up messengers, ma’am, but I was the one who spent a day and two nights locked up in incarceration! Just because I was in a uniform and showed up ten minutes after their tantrums!”

  “Oh dear . . .” Mahrree rubbed her cheeks.

  Karna had looked at Mahrree apologetically. “I’m rather surprised we haven’t heard anything more from Idumea. With all due respect to the High General’s memory, no news doesn’t always mean ‘no news’. We need to consider the possibility that they never got there.”

  Mahrree nodded sadly.

  “I’m sorry, Mahrree,” Brillen continued. “I fear we’ve already waited too long. I’m pulling forty men from the reconstruction efforts and sending them out immediately to look.”

  Mahrree shook her head. “No, Major. The soldiers are needed for securing Edge.”

  “We can spare some men for our commander, Mrs. Shin. And besides,” he added with a dismal twinkle in his eye, “it’s not exactly appropriate for you to tell the second in command what to do with his soldiers.”

  “Sorry, Major,” she said meekly. “I just see this more as a family concern—”

  “So do I, Mahrree. Perrin once gave me a copy of The Writings, and I do remember that the first line is, ‘We are all family.’”

  Mahrree sniffled, knowing that Perrin thought Brillen hadn’t ever opened it. “Then I suggest—to my
family—that we wait till morning? If we hear nothing, then send a search party?”

  Mahrree used all of her worry to vigorously scrub out a stain in her skirt, ignoring the fact that she was rubbing out the dye as well. The fort had been most helpful. Guards were posted day and night at the house, and Karna slept last night on the sofa with his sword on the floor next to him. He would most likely come again for the night since the sun was about to set, and he’d try to talk with Peto or get Jaytsy to smile. He was such a good man, just completely inexperienced with teenagers. Still, Mahrree was grateful for a capable officer in the house.

  And no Guarder activity had been detected around Edge, but obviously Guarders were working differently now.

  When she heard the fast hoof beats coming up the cobblestone in front of the house, a wave of panic washed over her. She dropped the skirt in the warm water, dried her hands on her apron, and ran to the front of the house prepared for anything, but hoping for nothing. Hycymum, in the kitchen washing dishes, followed closely behind.

  Jaytsy and Peto got to the front door first, though, and watched tensely as the small man in a red messenger uniform dismounted. Hycymum stood behind Mahrree, her hands apprehensively in front of her face, but Mahrree took a bracing breath and walked out onto the porch.

  The messenger trotted up the stairs and handed her the envelope. “Mrs. Shin? I am to tell you that the colonel and the master sergeant are on their way.” With that he swiveled and marched smartly back to his horse.

  Mahrree whispered, “He said colonel and master sergeant, right? That means they’re still in the army. That means neither was demoted, and both are still alive.” Relief rained down on her like the morning’s thunderstorm.

  They were coming home. Both of them.

  “Read it!” Jaytsy exploded next her. “The message! Read it!”

  Peto snatched it out of Mahrree’s hands and tried to rip it open.

  “Let me do it!” Jaytsy grabbed the envelope from her brother.

  Mahrree could only stand there, tears of gratitude trickling down her face, while her teenagers battled in front of her on the porch.

  “Thank the Creator!” Hycymum said, and went to sit down on the sofa to fan herself.

  Both alive, Mahrree thought, still unable to move. Both still all right. Maybe. She closed her eyes and didn’t hear more hoof beats until her children cried out, “They’re here!”

  Mahrree’s eyes flew open to see four horses come to an abrupt stop in front of the house. Her eyes fell immediately on Perrin.

  There wasn’t even a word to describe his appearance. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him so exhausted, dirty, and scruffy. His uniform was a disgrace. His face was bloodied and unshaven. His cap was missing and his hair looked as if he’d been wrestling a bale of hay—

  And he’d never looked more wonderful.

  Mahrree leaped down the stairs as quickly as he slid off his horse. She didn’t care who saw her, and neither did he. He jumped over the fence and she ran into his arms where he picked her up in a fierce embrace.

  “I was so scared for you! I was sure you were going to do something terrible,” she whispered in his ear as she squeezed him with all her strength. His normally earthy-sweet smell was far more earthy than sweet today, but she could overlook that.

  “I’m sorry to admit that I was,” he murmured back. “But I’m all right now. I’m home. Please forgive me, one more time?”

  “I already have.”

  He kissed her cheek, but that wasn’t good enough. He set her down, took her face in his hands, and kissed her properly in front of everyone.

  Until Shem cleared his throat. “That is a little unfair, Colonel. The rest of us are lonely, single men . . .”

  “Poor Uncle Shem!” Jaytsy laughed for the first time in days. She and Peto had come down the stairs and were waiting to hug their father, but caught Shem instead as he dismounted, each of them taking a side.

  Perrin released his wife and held out his arms to embrace his children. Mahrree wiped away happy tears as Perrin attempted to pick up both Jaytsy and Peto, unsuccessfully.

  She chuckled and turned to Shem, grabbing his arm. “Oh Shem, how can I ever thank you? What did you have to do?” she whispered.

  “Beat him up,” Shem murmured back.

  Mahrree cringed.

  “Stop him from murdering an Administrator—”

  Mahrree flinched. “Gadiman?”

  “Yes, how’d you know?”

  “Just a lucky guess. What else?” she asked and bit her lip in dreadful anticipation.

  “Let’s see,” Shem started, but noticed Perrin and the children watching him. “I think I’ll finish this later.”

  Perrin nodded once at him, with warning in his eyes.

  Mahrree hugged Shem. “Well, thank you anyway!”

  “Anything for my family,” Shem whispered as he released her.

  Perrin cleared his throat. “Mahrree, a couple of introductions here.” He gestured to the two soldiers who had also dismounted and now stood patiently at the gate.

  Mahrree had completely forgotten there was anyone else in the world besides her family. She looked over at the other two men and her eyebrows went up.

  Perrin put a smile on his face that was slightly unnatural, but only Mahrree and Shem knew that. “May I present our new captain, Lemuel Thorne—”

  “Captain?” a startled Mahrree said, but tried to cover her surprise with The Dinner smile.

  Captain Thorne sauntered over to the family with what Mahrree would classify as a triumphant swagger.

  “Yes, quite the accomplishment,” Perrin said, trying not to grit his teeth. “For graduating top of his class and half a season early, he gets the rank of captain and the choice of his first assignment. And guess where he chose?” His expression turned grim.

  Captain Thorne was grinning fully now, but not at Mahrree. He was gazing earnestly at Jaytsy. “I chose to come to the Edge of the World, just like Captain Shin did.” He took Jaytsy’s hand and kissed it.

  Jaytsy was taken aback. From the moment she recognized him she stared at him with an indefinable look. But when the captain kissed her, she blushed and let escape a curious noise that was a blend of a giggle, a snort, and a guffaw.

  Thorne was enchanted.

  Shem was alarmed.

  Mahrree was troubled.

  Perrin was livid.

  He clenched his fist and released it before turning to the lieutenant still waiting by the gate. “And this is Lieutenant Offra. This poor unfortunate man has been enjoying the warmth of Trades for the past year and now has been shipped all the way north. He still won’t tell me what he did wrong to earn this transfer.”

  The lanky lieutenant smiled bashfully and nodded. “It’s a privilege to serve under Colonel Shin. Every soldier knows that. I wanted to be here as well.”

  Perrin turned back to Mahrree. “I hate to say it, but—”

  “I know. You need to go to the fort,” she said. “And you don’t know when you’ll be back.”

  “But it won’t be long, I promise.”

  “Don’t make promises you might not keep,” she warned him.

  “Colonel!” a voice from the up the road came running to them. It was Karna. “I can’t believe it! You’re back!” He stopped in front of the colonel and looked as if he might hug him.

  Perrin grinned, shook his hand warmly, then pulled him into a quick embrace.

  “I saw the messenger leave,” Karna said as he patted Perrin on the back, “I was on my way down for the evening, and—”

  “Yes, I’m back. And, Brillen, I’m sorry about that,” Perrin gestured at the large black and purple bruise under Karna’s eye.

  Karna waved his apology away.

  Perrin smiled. “I trust everything here was well?”

  “We kept your house under constant watch, have detected no Guarder activity, and the fort in good condition, sir.” Major Karna flashed a grin at Shem that told him ‘Good job!’


  “I’m glad to hear that, and I’m also sorry,” Colonel Shin told him.

  The major looked disappointed. “Why?”

  The colonel put on another smile, this one slightly pained. “I’ve been spoiled for far too long. You’ve languished in my shadow for so many years, and you’ve done far too good a job here. So good that you’ve been given your own command.” Colonel Shin pulled out an official envelope from his jacket pocket. “The fort at Rivers is yours, Lieutenant Colonel Karna. And Captain Rigoff is yours, too.”

  Mahrree gasped to realize Teeria would be leaving Edge for the large village of Rivers.

  Karna was speechless as he opened the envelope and read the orders. “I can’t believe it, sir,” he finally whispered. He grinned at Sergeant Zenos who smiled sadly. Then Karna looked at the colonel and his grin faded. “Oh, sir. But I’ve been here so long, I can’t imagine actually leaving.”

  “It’s graduation day, Brillen!” Perrin said cheerfully, but his eyes were clouded. “And when you graduate, it’s time to move on. Surely a Miss Robbing who delivers eggs to the Rivers fort will be a bit happy about that as well.”

  Karna began to smile again. “She, uh, she and I were talking, and . . . She won’t believe it!” He choked out a laugh.

  “You better send us an invitation to the wedding, Brillen.” Mahrree kissed him on the cheek. “We’re going to miss you, but I’m so happy for you! It’s been a long time in coming.”

  Karna nodded and reread the orders, his face a manifestation of mixed emotions. “I suppose you don’t need me here tonight, Mrs. Shin.”

  “I’m afraid you leave tomorrow afternoon, so you best get back and get packing,” Colonel Shin told him. “I’ll come with you to give Rigoff the news. And Neeks.”

  “Where’s Grandpy off to?” Karna asked, surprised.

  “Down to Grasses.” Perrin’s pained smile remained on his face. “General Cush thought his old bones would appreciate something warmer. He won’t be going alone, though. Private Hili will be accompanying him.”

  Mahrree covered her mouth.

  Perrin turned to her. “It’ll be good for him. New place, no one knows his background. He’ll truly get a fresh start. Just what Shem told him he needed.”