The Falcon in the Barn (Book 4 Forest at the Edge series)

The Falcon in the Barn

By Trish Mercer

Smashwords Version

Copyright © 2015 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 but would be totally awesome.

Cover art and design by the daughter of
Rudolf Strebel, who taught her to love clouds of all shapes and
sizes, and placed in her (and her children now too) the obsession
to take pictures of all clouds, even ones produced by raging forest
fires in Yellowstone. She’s grateful she found a place to publish
two of the photos from 2013, and to carry on Rudy’s hobby since
Alzheimer’s has taken away his ability to do so. (Rudy died a month
after this book was published.)

Clouds are sacred.

Contact author via
website:
http://forestedgebooks.com

This ebook is licensed for
your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or
given away to other people. If you would like to share this book
with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each
recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or
it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your
favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for
respecting 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 the more you
know

about the ways of the
world,

the more you want to get away from
it.

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

Fadh—FOD

Jothan—JOH-thun

Asrar—AZ-rar

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

Contents

Chapter 1
~
“They’ve ruined him.”

Chapter 2
~
“I know
everything
that goes on here in Edge.”

Chapter 3
~
“May I have five minutes—”

Chapter 4
~
“This is the worst Raining Season ever.”

Chapter 5
~
“What did I almost do?”

Chapter 6
~
“I’m an object of
pity.
”

Chapter 7
~
“Is that my daughter out there?”

Chapter 8
~
“It was a good night. All is well.”

Chapter 9
~
“We are here to remember.”

Chapter 10
~
“Tell me everything you know about Moorland.”

Chapter 11
~
“Men, it’s our turn to go hunting!”

Chapter 12
~
“Do you think I’m ready?”

Chapter 13
~
“And then by tomorrow, we’ll have some very fascinating
results.”

Chapter 14
~
“You’re in a lot of trouble, Colonel Shin.”

Chapter 15
~
“Seeing as how some people weren’t where they were supposed to
be . . .”

Chapter 16
~
“Who gives gifts like THIS?”

Chapter 17
~
“He’s gone fishing, Thorne! He returns
tomorrow!”

Chapter 18
~
“Please, Mahrree, please. Stay for me.”

Chapter 19
~
“Who will go next?!”

Chapter 20
~
“Tell me about cow eyes.”

Chapter 21
~
“It was an ambush! Look at us!”

Chapter 22
~
“You aren’t people, you’re vultures!”

Chapter 23
~
“The most harmful sentences begin with,
‘I deserve . . .’
”

Chapter 24
~
“We will accept no less than a two week stay.”

Chapter 25
~
“Like everyone else, I fell for the stories.”

Chapter 26
~
“But what do you know how to use, a pitchfork?”

Chapter 27
~
“How many women—
girls
—had an old historian as their
childhood hero?”

Chapter 28
~
“It’s not that simple, Yung!”

Chapter 29
~
“They’re back! The expedition!”

Chapter 30
~
“Mother! Sit DOWN!”

Chapter 31
~
“It’s time that front garden was tended to!”

Chapter 32
~
“And next is . . . ?”

Chapter 33 ~ “The quieter you both are, the faster all of
this will just . . . go away.”

Chapter 34
~
“This has always been such a nice village—”

Chapter 35
~
“I have an idea, a plan!”

Chapter 36
~
“I intend for this to be the most
enlightening
day of my
life.”

Chapter 37
~
“Who in the world would be brave enough to visit
us?”

Chapter 38
~
“My name is Shem Zenos. And . . .”

Acknowledgements

About the author, Other titles and Contact
me

Chapter 1
~
“They’ve ruined him.”

E
ight weeks after
the land tremor that shook the world, Jaytsy sat on her bed late at
night with her knees pulled up to her chest. She rocked slowly, not
daring to sleep. There was a chance tonight would be quiet, but
she’d had her sleep disturbed too many times to believe that.

She knew it was self-centered to think so,
but she suspected that the shaking she had wished for everyone
else—just to “wake them up a little”—had been focused on her. While
the world was returning slowly to normal, nothing in Jaytsy’s world
was the same.

Her grandparents were gone. And now, so was
her father.

Perrin Shin’s body came home from his enraged
ride to Idumea, but not his mind. Where it was, no one really knew.
As soon as he put General Relf Shin’s sword into his sheath,
everything changed.

It was the day after the crate had come from
Idumea, the 55
^th
Day of Planting, that he replaced his
sword with his father’s. That night he tried to use it.

Jaytsy had been sleeping when she heard the
shouting. Panicked, she opened her door at the same time Peto
opened his. They stared at each other across the dark gathering
room until Perrin ran down the stairs with Relf’s sword drawn.

“
Upstairs! Now! My bedroom!
The only place you’ll be safe!”

Mahrree had padded after him. “Perrin,
there’s no danger—”

“
Yes there is! It’s
everywhere!”

Jaytsy and Peto searched the darkness until
Perrin’s shout of “NOW!” made them jump.

“
Just go,” their mother
whispered, “I’ll deal with him.”

They ran up the stairs and sat on the edge of
their parents’ bed, listening to their mother trying to reason with
their father.

“
What’s wrong with him?”
Peto whispered.

“
I don’t know,” Jaytsy
whispered back, hugging her knees. “Maybe he saw
something?”

Peto crawled along the bed to look outside
the new window, wide and clear. “It’s really quiet out there, the
alley’s empty, and the tower isn’t lit. I don’t think there’s
anything.”

He crawled back to sit next to his sister,
but not too close. “I don’t hear him anymore.”

“
Me neither.”

“
What does that mean?” Peto
whispered.

Jaytsy shrugged. “It’s really . . .” She
couldn’t think of a word. She’d never seen her father like that
before.

“
Creepy,” Peto supplied,
and wrapped his arms around himself.

A moment later their mother came into the
dark bedroom. “Just a nightmare!” she said in an overly merry tone.
“He’s asleep on the sofa, and was probably never fully awake. You
can go to bed now.”

Jaytsy didn’t dare move.

Neither did Peto. “Does he still have the
sword?”

A heavy clank came from their mother. “No, I
took it after he fell on the sofa. We don’t need him mistaking any
of us for someone we’re not, do we?” She laughed softly, but
shakily.

In the morning when Jaytsy passed her waking
father on the sofa, he looked baffled. “Why am I here? Did I have a
fight with your mother that I slept through?”

“
Uh,” Jaytsy was unsure of
how to explain. He seemed completely normal, just a little tired.
“Sort of?”

Jaytsy rushed to the washing room and shut
the door behind her. She heard her mother come down the stairs and
waited until their conversation ended with Perrin shouting, “I’d
never do that!”

When she snuck out, her father was sitting at
the table, holding his head. He smiled feebly, and so did she.

Peto just nodded at his father as he sat down
to breakfast.

By dinner everyone was easier again, smiling
and laughing as if nothing had happened, and they slept well that
night. Jaytsy thought nothing more about her father’s unusual
nighttime activity, especially since the night after was also calm
and quiet.

But in the fourth night Jaytsy woke up,
feeling a presence next to her bed. The light from the two moons
coming through the window bounced off the sword held over her.

“
They’re after
you.”