The Falcon in the Barn (Book 4 Forest at the Edge series) (28 page)

Thorne, who had been bristling like a
porcupine for the past five minutes, raised his eyebrows. “Sir, I
must protest. I think
I
am much more up to the task of—”

“
And I don’t. Offra,” he
turned back to him, “as I was saying—”

“
Sir, have you read his
file?” Thorne demanded.

Perrin didn’t even glance at Thorne as he
said, with a faint smile aimed at Offra, “Yes, I’ve read Offra’s
file. But more than that, I’ve observed the man himself. I believe
he’s far more than ‘adequate’ to handle this assignment. Besides,
his former commander is an arrogant twit who can’t recognize
character if it bit off his nose. However,” and now Perrin turned
to see that Thorne’s face had gone beet red, “I’ve also observed
you
over the past year, and I recommend that you shut your
mouth before a new entry is added to
your
file.”

Thorne clamped his mouth shut so tight there
was an audible click, and he turned an enraged shade of purple.

“
And a
well done
to
you, too,” Perrin said, as if speaking to an eight-year-old. “I
suppose you
have
learned something since your diplomacy
courses.”

Even Offra sniggered at that, and Radan
looked quickly out the observation windows to hide his grin.

“
As I was saying, Offra—dig
out the files of what you did last year, and tomorrow we’ll go over
them to see what needs modifying. Then you’ll begin creating a
strategy to present this to Edge. I want this to be strictly
voluntary. I believe that when Edgers see the wisdom in it they’ll
come around and want to contribute.”

“
Sir?” Offra piped up. “A
question?”

“
Of course! This is, after
all, a meeting where all opinions and questions can be freely
stated,” said Perrin generously, fully aware that his treatment of
Thorne since the beginning contradicted all of that. Well, had to
keep the young officers on their toes, right?

Offra cleared his throat. “Could we . . .
offer incentives?”

“
Yes? Yes?” Perrin
encouraged in the same manner he used on his old dog Barker to get
him to finally bark. Which he never did.

Offra nodded nervously. “Such as . . . maybe
villagers’ names would be posted on the message boards for their
contributions? Announced at the amphitheater? Something public that
feeds people’s egos? They tend to respond to that, you know.”

Perrin grinned. “Yes, they absolutely do!
Good ideas. Jot them down, Thorne. You seem to be falling behind,
there.”

With an angry harrumph—likely forgetting that
wasn’t a subservient noise to emit—Thorne went back to
scribbling.

“
Keep ideas like that
coming, Offra,” Perrin said.

Offra’s hand went up like a timid school
boy’s.

“
I see the lieutenant in
the corner has another question?”

Offra smiled in embarrassment. “Just one more
thing, sir? Last year Rector Yung assisted in convincing some of
the villagers to help. May I use him again?”

“
And the marvelous
suggestions just keep coming, don’t they Thorne?” Perrin slapped
him hard on the back again, making sure he hit the same spot as
before. That’d have to be the last time, Perrin knew, because he
was enjoying hitting that boy far too much.

The quill in Thorne’s hand flipped out,
leaving a messy trail across the notes. “Oh, sir!”

“
Oh, dear,” Perrin
tsk-tsked. It really was just that easy to undo the captain. “Well,
you needed to rewrite all of those anyway. Three copies, just like
your grandfather requests.”

Radan was fully grinning now, and Perrin
thought he heard a few more strings between him and Thorne
snap.

Now Radan raised his hand.

Perrin leaned forward. “Really, boys—no need
to raise hands. We’re not in Command School anymore, thank the
Creator.”

Radan’s arm sagged as he glanced at Thorne.
“But last year we always had to . . .” He trailed off as Thorne
glared at him.

Perrin smiled kindly. “Never was in section
3, or wherever the procedures for weekly meetings are. In fact,
when a group of officers get together, it’s expected a few shouting
matches will occur. All part of the fun, right? Now, what do you
want to say?” Radan grinned as Perrin added to Thorne, “And be sure
to get all of this.”

“
Sir, any particular kind
of barns you want for the storehouses?”

Perrin leaned back and looked at the ceiling,
contemplating. “I don’t really know, Radan. Surprise me. We’ll go
over the plans you find, and work from there. Did you get all that,
Thorne?”

“
Yes.
Sir
.”

“
My, you could split a
mountain with a response like that, Captain.” Perrin slapped his
hands on the desktop, causing Thorne to make yet another inky spill
on his notes.

“
Oh, sir!
Really!”

“
Oh, I am
so
sorry
about that. Maybe next time we’ll have Zenos take the
notes.”

“
Yes, please!”

“
Because his writing is
so
much neater . . .”

---

Half an hour later Perrin grinned as Offra
and Radan saluted him readily before heading down the stairs, and
Thorne grumbled as he began to rewrite his notes.

When Perrin got up, it was with a
huge-ly
bump against the desk, which meant Thorne growled
out loud, crumpled up the sheet of paper he had just began—now
covered in spilled ink—and slapped down another sheet to begin once
more.

“
Don’t
worry
,
Captain,” Perrin said soothingly, “I have another officers meeting
scheduled soon, and that’s where you’ll likely get to witness a
real shouting match or two. And someone else will take the notes.”
Then, unable to help himself, and because it felt so right, he
slapped Thorne’s back one last time, leaving a red mark on his hand
that burned with enormous satisfaction.

When Perrin closed the door to his office, he
chuckled.

Being in command was fun again.

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

A
week later, and
three weeks after the Remembrance Ceremony, Colonel Shin sat at
another officers’ meeting, but this one was much larger and better
well-attended by a dozen men seated at the large table with him.
The meeting was being held behind locked doors in a side training
room off of the mess hall. Across from Perrin at the rectangular
table sat Master Sergeant Zenos, then Lieutenant Colonel Karna and
his lieutenant to one side, and Major Yordin and his master
sergeant on the other. Along a shorter side was Major Fadh and one
of his assistants, and across from them were Sergeant Major Beneff,
because Perrin couldn’t come up with a reason to exclude him, and
Captain Thorne.

Thorne was actually closest to Perrin, who
occupied one long side of the table all by himself where he’d
spread tidy stacks of pages and notes. But Thorne had a manner of
sitting away from his commander that suggested much more distance
than there was. He had learned to sit
small-ly
, and for
once, Perrin approved of his behavior. Seated behind the table were
three more sergeants, accompanying their commanders who traveled
there to keep careful notes of the conversation.

“
I appreciate all of you
attending today,” Perrin began, “and I realize the fort at Rivers
would have been a more central site, but seeing as how I’m
still
wedded to Edge’s borders—”

The officers rolled their eyes at Colonel
Shin’s extended probation, except for Captain Thorne who sat
stoically, if not uneasily.

But there was nothing Perrin wanted to do
more on the anniversary of his parents’ death than to conduct this
meeting.

“—
I appreciate all of you
journeying to Edge to join us.”

“
Any time, Colonel. You
know that,” said Lieutenant Colonel Karna.

Major Fadh of Quake nodded, and Major Yordin
of Mountseen said, “I’m sure all of this will die down again soon,
Colonel. Just give Idumea a little more time to forget how
loved
you are, and you’ll be a free man again.” Yordin
emphasized his point with a confident slap on the table.

Perrin smiled. Yordin’s hand would be red by
the end of the meeting, making Perrin wish that Thorne’s back was
in smacking distance. The major wasn’t nick-named Roarin’ Yordin
for nothing. While his skin was a usual light reddish-brown, and he
was of usual height, he was, however, of unusual strength and
ferocity when provoked. He kept his head shaved as smooth as his
firm chin, so that even his scalp looked muscular. He was who you
wanted on your side in a fight, and someone to run away from if he
was rooting for the other man. Even though he didn’t enter the
university until his late twenties, he soared through the ranks.
That was probably why he was headquartered far away from Idumea,
just like Perrin.

Sergeant Major Beneff shook his head. “Not so
sure about it all dying down, Major, with all due respect, ho-ho.
The cows know how to smell the sunset, after all.”

Perrin was used to this, the silent pause
that hung in the air after one of Beneff’s bits of knowledge
fluttered to the ground, and everyone stared at it wondering what
in the world
that
was. A few of the officers looked at
Perrin for an explanation, but he merely shook his head to indicate
they really didn’t want to pursue it.

Who he felt sorry for were the enlisted men
sitting against the wall taking notes for their commanders. The
three other scribes looked at Perrin’s, who closed his eyes and
silently sniggered.

“
Not so sure about it dying
down at all, hi-ho. Have you heard about the play?”

Perrin rubbed his forehead as Karna chuckled.
“I have!”

Perrin raised an inquisitive eyebrow at
him.

Sergeant Zenos’s snort caught Perrin’s
attention next, and Shem quickly shook his head apologetically.

The two majors sat up taller.

“
Well I haven’t,” said Fadh
with a cautious glance at the colonel.

Perrin was surprised at his interest. Major
Graeson Fadh was taller than Yordin, slender, darker brown in skin
with black hair, and a perfect foil for Yordin. As roaring as
Yordin was, Fadh was quiet, thoughtful, and reserved. That made him
an exceptionally sharp man, and allowed him to notice nearly
everything.

Except for maybe one thing. “What play,
Beneff?”

“
We don’t need to hear
about that right now,” said Perrin firmly.

But his reticence intrigued Yordin. “Oh, then
I think we do! Come on, Beneff. Out with it!” Slap.

Beneff smiled at the majors’ encouragement,
and didn’t notice his commander trying to stare him down. “Seems
they’re practicing down in Orchards right now. Best plays come out
of there, you know. ‘Course, I don’t really know. That’s just what
I hear, hum-hum, and one should never ask the rock where the dirt
is—”

Yordin’s eyebrows furrowed at that one.

“
My brother and his wife
live there,” Beneff droned on. “She loves the actors, that woman
does. She’d drag us out to everything they put on. Rather glad I
got transferred up here—”

Karna made a rolling motion with his hand at
Beneff, encouraging him to get to the point.

Perrin just sighed and made himself
comfortable. Once the floor was given to Beneff, he wouldn’t give
it up until he covered it all.

“
Yes-yes. The play is all
about our colonel here, called ‘The Midnight Ride of Perrin Shin.’
About the caravan and the attack and the delivery to Edge,” he
grinned. “My sister-in-law says it’s very moving. But you know, if
the boot leaks, check with the bakers—”

Perrin was used to skipping over Beneff’s
rambling, but Major Fadh was now leaning earnestly toward the
doddering old fool, as if determined to discern some pattern to the
randomness.

“—
All kinds of costumes,
scenes, movement, noise, ho-ho. My sister-in-law sits in on the
practices with her friends. Whole collection of biddies, with their
yarns and stick things and so—” He tried to make knitting motions
with his hands.

Perrin sighed louder and looked up at the
ceiling, wondering if it needed patching. The other soldiers began
to smirk.

“—
Supposed to open in Pools
in just a few weeks. The play, that is. And it’ll be all the rage!”
Beneff predicted. “The lead is that popular young buck, what’s his
name?” he said, snapping his fingers. “Straw? Reed?
Wool?”

Karna squinted. “Weaves?”

Perrin raised both eyebrows at Brillen that
time.

“
Yes!” Beneff slapped the
table in Yordin fashion. It was contagious. All of them would be
doing it by the end of the meeting. “That’s the man.”

Brillen burst into a grin. “That’s the name
written all over the other side of my niece’s slate.” He turned to
Perrin. “Nice going, there. Apparently every female under fifty
loves him.”

The majors began to laugh, and their
assistants covered their mouths just in case their laughter wasn’t
appropriate.

Shin glared at Karna.

Brillen and Shem tried to hide their smiles,
but not too hard.

Only Thorne sat stony faced.

“
Oh yes-yes,” Beneff
agreed. “Excellent bit of casting there, hey-hey. Couldn’t find a
more popular actor even if the flowers weren’t blooming
purple.”

Perrin’s mouth began to twitch, curiosity
getting to him. “Has he ever been to Edge?”