The Falcon in the Barn (Book 4 Forest at the Edge series) (102 page)

“
I thought you were
answering the call of nature somewhere. I wasn’t about to hold up
everything just for
you!
” Perrin snapped, but Shem heard a
hint of Perrin’s humor returning. “That’s what I had called that
meeting for—the one you left prematurely—to announce the early
strike.”

Shem smiled apologetically. “It turned out
well in the end, didn’t it?”

“
Show me what’s in the
bag,” Perrin said.

They took Shem’s leather bag into an inner
stall where no lantern light would escape through the cracks, after
Shem led out the nervous cow first. Shem pulled out detailed
records with names and dates of people who left via Shem’s route
over the years.

“
I don’t usually keep these
records in my quarters. I made a box some years ago, with a stone
cover, and buried it in the forest. Salemites know where it is, but
Guarders just pass it thinking it’s a regular rock on the ground. I
brought the records out for you to see, thinking you might want
some evidence. This quiet period here,” he gestured to a page of
notes, “that’s when we shifted the route to Moorland. It was easier
for a time because the ground wasn’t as active. The land in the
forests here seems to cycle every few years. Steam vents and gases
become very active for about five seasons, then quiet again. But
after the land tremor, nothing was predictable. We still run into
surprises in the forests.”

Perrin shook his head as he gazed at page
after page of Shem’s neat writing, augmented occasionally by others
leaving messages and updates. “How’d you do it? How’d you get
people out without any of our soldiers noticing?”

“
Who’s scheduled all the
training for the past fifteen years?”

Perrin smiled faintly. “I wondered why you
were so eager to do the scheduling job no one else wanted. And why
you didn’t want Thorne taking it over.”

“
Exactly. We used Barker
the Distractor at the beginning, but once I was put in charge of
scheduling, I knew when groups were leaving so I scheduled
training, drills, and everything else as far away as
possible.”

Perrin studied the pages. “Where’s the route,
Shem?” he tossed out casually, but Shem heard the old undertones of
paranoia.

“
I can’t tell
you.”

“
Come on, Shem. It’s
me!”

“
That’s exactly why.” Shem
sighed. “Perrin, we haven’t always been successful. A few times
we’ve been caught. Not everyone in the army follows the
guidelines.”

Perrin looked up from the pages. “What do you
mean?”

“
A few years ago one group
was captured by the army outside of Pools. The mother was very
large with her third and she was struggling. They were taken to
Idumea and questioned.” Shem hesitated.

“
Yes?” Perrin said
intently. “Go on.”

Shem sighed. “The father didn’t survive the
questioning. Neither did our two escorts. A grandfather was
released when it was finally believed he really didn’t know where
they were going. He found one of our scouts and told him what
happened. The less you know, the easier it may be if we aren’t
successful. We never knew what happened to the mother and her two
children.”

Perrin leaned forward, furious. “We don’t
question
to death
, Shem! Who did it?”

“
You need only one
guess.”

Perrin sagged into the straw. “Qayin
Thorne!”

“
Perrin,
he’s one of
them
.”

Closing his eyes, Perrin whispered,
“Lemuel?”

“
Oddly, not quite,” Shem
shrugged. “I don’t know the details, but he’s not old enough, or
advanced enough or something like that. But we know there are
certain tests he has to pass and goals he has to achieve. He has to
earn the position of being a Guarder of command like Qayin. All he
knows so far is that his father is part of a secret organization. I
don’t think he even realizes that it’s the Guarders, or that his
father has a hand in directing some of their activities. We’re not
sure even General Thorne knows everything.”

Perrin groaned quietly, massaging his
eyes.

“
Only one man seems to hold
all the knowledge,” Shem continued, “and despite all the scouts we
have serving in forts, in Idumea, and hiding in trees listening to
passing Guarder conversations, we’ve never been able to pinpoint
who that is. But because of the way he’s been able to influence
activity all these years, we’re fairly confident it’s an
Administrator.”

Perrin sighed. “I’m willing to bet it is
Mal.”

“
That’s my guess as well.
And Perrin,” Shem added, “Lemuel thinks
I’m
part of it too.
It’s the only reason he’s tolerated me.”

“
He thinks you’re a
Guarder?” Perrin rocked back.

“
Remember when we went to
Idumea, the carriage ride we took to the hospital? Thorne and Cush
questioned me.”

Perrin scowled. “I heard it. I don’t recall
you saying, ‘Hey, by the way, I’m a Guarder.’”

“
I didn’t have to. I knew
the code words.”

“
Code words?”

Shem nodded. “Remember back about thirteen
years ago when we were sitting in the trees and rocks all night
practicing our facial codes and watching Guarders spy on the fort?
Remember that one who was alone and disoriented, and thought I was
his contact?”

“
Yes. Fortunate time for
you to have to answer the call of nature,
again
. That’s the
one I took care of, right?”

Shem winced and nodded. “Yeah. You dropped
down out of the tree, slashed his throat—that was a real mess.”

Perrin rolled his hand. “Get to your
point.”

“
When he was talking to me,
he suddenly became nervous. He said, ‘I’ve always found the north
appealing.’ I didn’t know what to do with that, so I said, ‘Really?
Interesting.’ Then he said it again, more urgently. ‘I’ve always
found the north appealing!’ That’s when I realized the phrase
meant
something. He seemed to be waiting for a response, but
all I could think to say was, ‘But it’s cold up here.’ Well, that
was the wrong thing to say. That’s when he got nervous, and that’s
when you put stains on my jacket.”

“
And saved your life.
You’re welcome.”

Shem chuckled. “Only later did I remember
those two lieutenants, Sonoforen and the other one, who came as
your father’s guard after the raid on Edge. One asked if I found
the north appealing. I was so surprised by the oddness of the
question that I didn’t respond for a minute. Then years later, in
Idumea, I remembered that again when Thorne and Cush were asking me
about my background in the coach. I assumed that’s what they were
trying to find out, if I might not be a Guarder, and one that they
had been wondering about.”

Perrin cocked his head. “Wondering about?
Shem,” he said slowly, “exactly what
else
have you been
doing all these years?”

Shem squirmed. “In the early years a couple
of our scouts contacted the real Guarders and sent them messages
that the fort in Edge had a ‘quiet Guarder’ serving in your fort to
keep you ‘in the game.’ To keep from blowing his cover, the Quiet
Man would never make contact with the body of Guarders unless
necessary.”

“
So you’re the ‘Quiet
Man’?” Perrin guessed.

“
That’s me. The hope was
that if the Guarders suspected a man was already on the inside,
they wouldn’t send anyone else to annoy you. I don’t know if you
remember but right after I signed on officially there was another
soldier who signed up, too. Nervous, skittish slip of a
boy?”

Perrin frowned, trying to remember. “He
didn’t stay, right?”

“
That’s right. I took him
to the forest where several Salem scouts abducted him.”

Perrin’s eyebrows shot upwards.

“
Perrin, he was a Guarder,
sent to get close to you so he could feed information back to the
Guarders. You were to take him under your wing, help him along,
become his best buddy—”

“
But you already took that
role, didn’t you?” Perrin smirked.

Shem grinned. “Yep! There were a few more men
sent by the Guarders over the years to infiltrate the fort. Our
scouts in the forests would recognize increased activity in the
trees when someone was to be sent. It seems the Guarders watched
for several days after a new arrival to make sure their inside man
didn’t need any assistance. So the Salemite scouts would send me
word to watch for a new soldier who might be more than just a
soldier. I’d watch who came in and wait until I got a feeling about
someone. Then I lured them out to the trees where they would
inevitably confess their identity and earn themselves an unexpected
trip to Salem. We didn’t want anyone to get close to you. Besides
me.”

“
Amazing!” Perrin sat back
and stared at his friend.

“
You’ve used that word a
lot tonight. So, when you and I got to Idumea,” Shem picked up the
story again, “and I found myself in a coach with Qayin Thorne, who
we already suspected was high up in the Guarder leadership, I
realized he might try to figure out who I was. It would also allow
me to verify our suspicions about him. If he knew the codes, it’d
only be because he was a Guarder. If he thought you were already
under the watch of a Guarder, they might leave you
alone.”

Perrin smiled slightly. “And they did, with
you by my side.”

“
See?” Shem beamed. “It
worked! When Thorne and Cush suggested that most people don’t like
the north, I knew what to answer: ‘I find the north appealing.’ The
correct response to that phrase, it seems, is no
verbal
response but a smile. Both of them smiled at me. Just like the two
lieutenants smiled at me years ago after I paused for a few moments
before answering them.”

Perrin leaned back against the wall in
dismay. “Cush? Cush was one of them! My father trusted him with
everything
!”

Shem shook his head. “Cush wasn’t one of
them, but he knew
about
them. As far as we could tell, he
tried to play to both sides. He was devoted to your father, Perrin,
but he was also frightened of his son-in-law. I suspect the only
reason Qayin married Versula was to have access to the High General
position, and I’m convinced Lemuel was sent here to secure Jaytsy
for the same reason. If he married her, there’d always be a Thorne
in the side of the High General. For many years it was assumed
you’d have that position.”

“
Thorne’s getting it
anyway, isn’t he?” Perrin sounded only slightly bothered by
that.

“
Qayin’s going to be
officially installed as High General next week. They’re planning a
huge ceremony—bigger than The Dinner,” but he waved that off.
“There’s talk, though, that Cush’s death wasn’t by heart failure,
but that he was slowly poisoned by Qayin.”

Perrin leaned against the wall. “Why doesn’t
any of that surprise me?”

Shem gripped his shoulder. “Can you see why
you’re in a very dangerous position right now? They’re not going to
just let you fade away, Perrin.
They’re coming after your
family
.”

Perrin slumped. “So the world really is out
to get us?” he murmured. “How do you know all of this?”

“
Because for the past three
weeks I’ve been in Idumea.”

Despite his astonishment, Perrin couldn’t
help but smirk. “Really? All by yourself?”

Shem smirked back. “I knew the way this
time.”

“
What were you doing?
Didn’t anyone recognize you?”

“
There’s a great deal to be
learned by being a stable hand at the Administrators’
Headquarters,” Shem winked. “Such as what Qayin Thorne’s doing to
his father-in-law. Everyone in the stables assumed I was merely a
man down on my luck cleaning stalls. People say all kinds of things
in front of laborers who don’t matter. One of the stable boys who
had something going on with one of the mansion’s maids mentioned
that she had spied Qayin sprinkling something into Cush’s soup each
week.”

“
Oh Shem, you’re
brilliant!” Perrin grinned in genuine admiration. “I should give
you my old lieutenant colonel’s jacket. You would’ve been a great
officer.”

“
Thank you. I often thought
so myself,” said Shem smugly. “Every day the horses of important
visitors came in. You’d be surprised what kinds of documents they
leave in their saddle bags, assuming that manure men don’t know how
to read. General Thorne was there more often than he was at the
garrison. Every morning he’d drop off his stallion, with ridiculous
details about how I should feed it and brush it and speak to it—I
think he cares more for his horse than any human being. Then in the
afternoon he’d come back mumbling and cursing to retrieve his
horse.”

“
And he never recognized
you?” Perrin asked, astonished. “Qayin’s seen you at least three or
four times.”

“
He only ever saw my
uniform, not me. And never once did he bother to make eye contact
with his horse’s manure man.”

Perrin squinted. “And why was Qayin so upset
each day?”

“
Because of you and
Mahrree, naturally,” Shem told him. “We’ve had a Salemite in the
building for several years now. He’s the recorder at the main desk
to the Conference Room and told me who went in and out of that room
each day. Perrin, the Administrators spent the last two and a half
weeks arguing about nothing else but you and Mahrree.”

Perrin let out a low whistle. “Whatever you
do, don’t tell her, Shem. She’s already a nervous wreck, especially
after I warned her that Genev might be starting a file on her . . .
what’s that look for?”