Soldier at the Door (Forest at the Edge)

by Mercer, Trish

  “They said you’d come back,” he whispered in her ear as he lifted her, “but that it takes time. I don’t know what changed, but I did pray for you.” He put her down and beamed at her.

  “My father,” she whispered.

  Perrin looked at her, confused.

  “He said all would be fine,” she explained—sort of, “and that I didn’t have to be sad anymore.”

  “I wished I could have met Cephas,” Perrin said reverently. “He’s the one you heard argue that the blue sky is an illusion, isn’t he? The one who surmised the true color of the sky is black?”

  Mahrree nodded. “He always saw further and deeper than I ever could.”

  “Further and deeper than anyone,” Perrin whispered. “I wished I had his strength. He could reach you when no one else could.”

  “You would’ve liked him,” she said, running her hand through his black hair. “After all, he’s always liked you.”

  Chapter 4 ~ “Send in our man.

  Officially.”

  That Weeding Season flew by as fast as bees. But oddly, the days crawled as slowly as slugs.

  “That’s the definition of parenthood,” an old man called to them as he watched, amused, near the pond at the village green one evening. “Everything seems opposite of what it should be.”

  Perrin was chasing yet again after his exploring little girl while Mahrree tried to calm down their fussy two-and-a-half-moons-old son. It seemed the only time they ever saw anyone else was in brief encounters like these. Hycymum dropped by frequently, but the volume of her two grandchildren usually sent her home within fifteen minutes, and on Holy Days they visited the Densals in the evening to find out what they missed as they stood outside the congregational meetings, bouncing their noisy children.

  That was the extent of their social world.

  Excursions to the large green near the amphitheater were the most entertainment they could handle right now, but getting out as a family at least a few times a week felt important. The Shins simply didn’t have time to care about anything else like politics or the topics of the latest debates that went on without them.

  Someday they would have time again, but now nothing was as important as their children. Their goal each day was to make sure their babies made it to bedtime with fewer bumps than the day before. They had yet to reach that goal.

  The old man shuffled towards them, but stooped down and caught Jaytsy with unexpected agility as she tried to charge past him. He held her tenderly and continued his slow walk to Perrin, who jogged over to retrieve his daughter. The stooped gray man, whose face and hair were probably as dark as the richest soils when he was younger, chuckled as he sat down on the bench next to Mahrree. He wasn’t disturbed at all by Peto’s whining.

  “They amuse you and aggravate you and amaze you,” he said as he stroked Peto’s soft hair. “They grow too fast, then not fast enough, then far away. They won’t talk, then they won’t stop talking, then they won’t talk to you at all. You want them to walk, then you want them to sit down, then they walk away.”

  Perrin sat down next the man, but before he could speak he made the mistake of putting Jaytsy down again. She took off like a bolt of lightning, excitedly yelling “Dog!”—her label for anything that moved.

  With a groan Perrin leaped back up to prevent her from grabbing an unsuspecting goose.

  The old man chuckled, patted Mahrree on the shoulder, and said, “May I try?” He held out his hands for Peto.

  Over her son’s arched and writhing body, Mahrree looked at sweet expression on the elderly man’s face. “Are you sure?”

  He seemed sincere, but Peto was far too much to inflict on anyone, especially that old.

  The man didn’t answer but carefully lifted wailing Peto, put him over his shoulder, and patted him rhythmically and more firmly than Mahrree would have dared. But by the time Perrin returned with Jaytsy, who had narrowly escaped a pecking death by goslings, Peto was asleep.

  “It takes a grandfather’s touch sometimes,” he smiled at the astonished parents.

  Perrin shook his head in admiration. “But unfortunately our children don’t have grandfathers in Edge.”

  The old man’s eyes glistened as held Perrin’s gaze. “I’m sorry about that. I believe grandfathers are the most important influence in a child’s life, after mothers and fathers, of course. Sometimes a grandfather can do and say things to a child no one else can. It may even be that at times a grandfather’s voice will be the only one he ever listens to. But what would I know,” he sighed. “I have no grandchildren in Edge. So I steal others’ grandchildren.” He closed his eyes in contentment as Peto snuggled into his wrinkled neck.

  Mahrree smiled at the lonely grandfather. “Well, you’re welcome to ours any time, especially when they’re crying!”

  Perrin nodded in agreement. “Quite a touch you have there. What’s the secret?”

  The old man opened his eyes and shrugged. “No secret. Simply experience.” He reluctantly handed Peto back to his grateful mother, but not before sniffing in his baby scent. “Beautiful family,” he declared as he stood up.

  He turned and put his hands on Perrin’s and Mahrree’s shoulders. “May the Creator always bless and preserve this family.”

  He smiled at them and slowly shuffled away, missing the perplexed expressions of the parents he just left.

  ---

  Hew Gleace watched the window anxiously from his seat behind the desk. He didn’t like sitting there. It wasn’t his desk to claim, but it was his to watch over while its true owner was away. He tried to read the papers resting on it, but couldn’t concentrate.

  He gazed out the window again. Eventually he saw a cloud of dust and the appearance of eight horses and riders.

  Gleace exhaled and got up from his seat. He darted outside just in time to see some of the younger men helping an old man off his horse.

  “Tuma!” Gleace exclaimed when he saw how weary he was. “Are you all right?”

  Tuma Hifadhi smiled. “Of course! Of course! Wonderful excursion. Now, if you could help me sit down on something that’s not moving . . .”

  “Yes, yes,” Gleace said as he led the old man back into the small building. Two younger men guided him to sit down on a cushioned bench.

  Tuma sighed as he put up his feet on the bench. “Much better!”

  To the younger men he said, “Please tell my daughter I’ve returned, so she’ll stop fretting. She’ll inform everyone else.”

  The men nodded and headed out the door.

  Gleace pulled a chair over to sit across from Tuma. “If your wife were still alive—”

  “She’d be as overly worried as my daughter, I know.”

  Gleace shook his head. “So? Did you succeed in your little adventure?”

  “I’m not a rebellious seventeen-year-old, you know!” Hifadhi chuckled.

  “You acted like one, you know! Taking such a risk—”

  “Now you sound like my father!”

  “Well, maybe an eighty-seven-year-old needs to listen to a father!”

  Tuma wiped a tear of laughter from his eyes.

  Gleace smirked. He couldn’t keep up his angry pretense. “So?” he asked again.

  Tuma beamed at him. “I saw him! And her! And their children! I even held both of them.”

  Gleace’s mouth fell open. “Really? But you were there for such a short time—”

  “I knew exactly where to be and what to do.”

  “And you said whatever it was you wanted to say?”

  Tuma smiled and nodded.

  “There were easier ways, you know,” Gleace chided him.

  “But easier is rarely better,” Tuma reminded.

  Gleace sighed. “I hope you’ve satisfied your curiosity now. And Tuma, I hope you were careful.”

  Hifadhi waved that off. “Of course I was careful. It’s been a few years, but I still know how to cover my tracks. They’ll remember me only as a lonely old man, if they remember me at a
ll. And yes, Hew—I’ve satisfied my curiosity. It’s your curiosity I worry about now.”

  Gleace chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not curious in the least bit. I’m just glad you’re safely back.”

  “So am I!” Tuma admitted and closed his eyes. “And now I have no doubt. I looked into his eyes—it is him. The one we’ve been watching for.”

  Gleace closed his eyes too, absorbing Tuma’s words.

  After a restful moment Tuma Hifadhi whispered, “Hew, send in our man. Officially.”

  ---

  It was almost the end of Weeding Season, Captain Shin noticed as he wrote the date on the document that sat in front of him on his desk. The 90th Day. He had been a father to two small children for three full moons now, and so far they were both still alive. He and Mahrree must be doing something right, he thought proudly to himself.

  He smiled at the anxious young man seated across from him, and he put the document into a file. “And now all that’s left to say is, Welcome to Fort Edge,” he said to his newest recruit.

  The thin, sickly pale young man with stringy dirt-colored hair nodded to the captain as he rose from his chair. “I hope I won’t disappoint you, sir,” he said in a shaky voice as he shook the captain’s offered hand.

  “Oh, I’m sure you won’t,” Shin lied genially as he came around the desk and opened the door to his office.

  But he was sure he would. The boy was barely heavy enough to meet the weight requirement, and Perrin could have snapped his spindly arms like kindling with only one hand.

  Then again, if the recruit didn’t pass the next two weeks’ of training, Perrin wouldn’t have to worry about any of that.

  “I understand you’re nervous, but that’s why we prepare you,” he said brightly. “We’ll teach you to not be afraid of your fears.”

  It was always good to practice the words, even if he didn’t think they would apply.

  He put a comforting hand on the young man’s shoulder and gently directed him out to the large forward office. Shin stopped and looked around the empty tower.

  “Hmm,” he said. “Neeks was supposed to be here.” He turned to the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. “Ah, Private Zenos. Have you seen Master Sergeant Neeks? I have a new recruit here that needs to be outfitted and given a tour.”

  The next-to-last official recruit—convinced after only three moons of volunteering that soldiering was the life for him for the next two years—nodded as he came to the top of the tower stairs.

  Everything had checked out on Shem Zenos, to Perrin’s surprise. He had no criminal record and he really was twenty years old, according to the piece of parchment Zenos produced last week that was signed by someone named Boskos Zenos. Perrin chose to believe the signature was authentic. Over the last few weeks he’d found himself quite taken with the perennially pleasant young soldier.

  Private Zenos smiled cheerily at his commander. The boy was always beaming, as if he simply couldn’t help himself.

  “Yes, Captain. The master sergeant was called away unexpectedly. He asked if I’d come up here to make his apologies. He hopes he won’t be too long.”

  Captain Shin sighed at the new recruit. “I don’t want you to sit around wasting time, Private. I could give you the tour, I suppose—”

  “Sir?” interrupted Private Zenos. “If I may, I can give him the tour. I just came off of duty, and I’m sure you have far more pressing matters.”

  The new recruit gave Zenos a scowl that the private ignored.

  Shin smiled. “You haven’t been here that long yourself, Zenos, to know everything about the fort.”

  The young man grinned. “Not officially, sir, but as a volunteer I learned more about this fort than I think you’d want to know!”

  Shin folded his arms. “I have to admit, Zenos, you do have a way of getting around. Private,” he said to the new recruit who glared at Zenos, “don’t trust this man’s innocent face and boyish ways. Private Zenos is the best scout I’ve ever met. He sees things no one else sees, and I swear the forest talks to him.”

  Zenos nodded soberly, but his eyes were twinkling. “Oh, it does sir, it does.”

  Shin shook his head. “Don’t make me regret getting you to sign up officially, Private. It’s talk like that that gets you regular visits with the surgeon.” He tapped his head.

  Zenos chuckled. “Don’t worry—I can’t understand the trees’ language yet. But when I do, then I’ll be sure to schedule an appointment with the surgeon. The tour, sir?”

  The new recruit’s glare hardened to granite.

  Shin didn’t notice. He shrugged and said, “Zenos, our newest private is all yours. Just get him back here so Grandpy can get him outfitted.”

  The new recruit slowly turned to Zenos, his brown eyes boring holes through him.

  Zenos just smiled broader. “Let’s start with the outer perimeter, then work our way in back to the office. I promise, Private, you won’t be disappointed!”

  “Already am,” the new recruit mumbled under his breath, and he followed Zenos down the long stairwell to the main receiving area.

  “So,” Private Zenos said as they exited into the compound of the fort, “this is the fort!”

  “Really?” the recruit said, unimpressed. He also no longer seemed nervous. “I couldn’t have figured that out by myself.”

  Zenos grinned, ignoring the sarcasm. They walked towards the northeast entrance that faced the large fields before the forest. “Over there, where the horses are, are the stables. The smith is right next to it.”

  The recruit merely rolled his eyes at the obvious.

  “Out here, beyond the gates, we have the feed barns to the east.”

  They marched out of the northeastern gates as Zenos gestured.

  “Beyond that is the beginning of the canal system that connects to the Edge River. It waters the farms here and extends all the way to the southern reaches of the world.”

  The recruit groaned with annoyance as Zenos blathered on about grasses and trees, and then became irrationally excited when he saw a gopher watching them from the cover of a bush.

  The recruit’s gait slowed slightly, however, as he realized Zenos was heading straight for the forest.

  “And in front of us is the most feared enemy of the Army of Idumea.” Zenos held out his arms wide as he marched straight to the trees.

  “Hey, hey!” called the recruit who stopped suddenly in his tracks.

  Zenos stopped as well, several paces ahead of him and right before the tree line.

  “Where do you think you’re going?!”

  Zenos looked at him innocently. “Why, to show you the fort. In a way, the fort grounds extend all the way to the tree line. You should know it better than anything else here. Why? Are you scared?”

  The recruit folded his twig-like arms. “Of course not! It’s just that, I thought the rules were that no soldiers were allowed in the forest.”

  Zenos smiled. “I didn’t say I was giving you a tour of the forest, now did I? I only want to show you some features along the edge of it. Plenty to see. Quite fascinating, really. There’s even a fresh spring where the captain has us water the horses when we’re on patrols. Look down the line and you’ll see three groups of soldiers patrolling along the edge. But if you’re scared, well then—”

  “I’m not scared! How ridiculous.” The recruit walked briskly up to Zenos. “Show me.”

  Zenos grinned and slapped him on the back. “Follow me and I’ll show you what’s called a mud volcano. Right over here. Not too impressive, is it? Just a pile of mud that bubbles every few seconds. Blub, blub, blub, blub. I swear you could keep time by it. Now, follow me down here. About thirty paces away, right over there is the fresh spring I was telling you about.”

  Zenos led him down a gentle slope towards a marshy area. “The water is really quite good.” He took a few deliberate steps into the forest by the trickling stream.

  The recruit paused at the edge of the trees, watching. />
  The private squatted near the head of the spring, cupped his hand, dipped it in, and took a drink.

  “I promise, best tasting water you’ll ever drink. Just come try it. This really isn’t off limits. It’s the only part of the forest that isn’t.”

  The recruit sighed and walked easily into the trees and over to Zenos. He squatted by the spring and—

  Several of the trees moved.

  Before he could gasp, a cloth was shoved into his mouth and quickly secured by a cord tied around his head, while his hands were bound behind his back.

  Zenos stood calmly by, watching the forest incapacitate the new soldier.

  The recruit flailed against his attackers as they tied his feet together, but it was useless. His captors, four of them, were far larger and stronger than he was. In their mottled green and brown clothing they melted into the forest.

  The recruit’s eyes darted around him in a panic and he saw several more hidden men, some even covered in leaves and sticks, surrounding the area.

  Zenos shook his head slowly. “For someone trained to know the forest, I’m a little surprised you were so hesitant to walk in. The captain’s right. The trees do talk to me, and they’ve told me your intentions. I’m sorry about this, really. Understand, I don’t exactly have an aggressive nature. But it seems there’s been a slight communication problem. You see, Shin is mine.” Zenos stepped closer to the shocked young man.

  His reluctance and fear had returned, this time genuinely.

  “And Shin will be mine for quite some time. Your presence is no longer required. I’ll make your apologies to the captain. You were spooked by the noises from the woods and decided to go to someplace like Vines where there are no trees. Don’t worry, soldier, I have things well in control here. I’ll take care of everything, especially Shin. I wish you a good journey.”

  Zenos nodded to the men who picked up the recruit and jogged him deeper into the woods and out of sight. He saluted sloppily to those who remained as they stepped quietly back into the trees and dissolved into them.