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

He certainly had seemed intelligent when they
spoke, but it wasn’t his intelligence that the girls in her class
nattered about at midday meal. They gossiped about his
sandy-colored hair, his blue eyes, his muscular build, and anything
else they could imagine from the brief minute he was in their
classroom. Jaytsy had to admit he was handsome, but—and it was
silly, she knew—Captain Thorne just didn’t
look
like the man
she pictured she’d spend her life with. She could see herself with
a soldier, but marrying Thorne would most likely mean a life away
from Edge.

As Jaytsy listened to the girls in the class
at midday meal speculating on the supposed merits of Captain
Thorne, she became more unsettled and shuddered to find herself
thinking so far in the future about men and marriage—until she
remembered it wasn’t
that
far. Two of her older friends had
already become engaged and would be married at age seventeen.

By the end of the midday meal break the
conversation had mercifully shifted away from the captain, and
Jaytsy was sure that was the last she would hear about him.

Until it was time to go home, because he was
waiting for her.

A girl sitting next to a window let out a
small squeal. “Guess who’s outside!”

Before the teacher could remind them that
they still had five minutes, the mass of females rushed the window
to ogle the young officer leaning against the split-rail fence that
encircled the school grounds. Everyone, that is, except for Jaytsy.
Even the teacher had to check out the view just in case it might be
“trouble.”

“
I think the only one who
might have any trouble would be ‘Miss Jaytsy,’” one of her friends
snickered. “And if you don’t want the ‘trouble,’ would you hand him
along to me?”

Jaytsy sat stewing in mortification. “Maybe
something’s come up and he needs to relay some information,” she
said lamely.

“
Ah,” said another girl, “a
captain that’s a messenger. I thought that was reserved for hunky
enlisted men like Zenos.”

When their teacher dismissed them, too
distracted to work anymore, the girls hurried out of the building
so that they could slowly file past Captain Thorne.

Jaytsy watched from the window as she
leisurely put away her slate and books. The girls paced their
passing in front of him so that he had to tip his hat to each one.
He seemed entertained by the parade of young women. Jaytsy glanced
at her teacher and saw the older woman send a satisfied sigh to the
window.

When Jaytsy finally made her way outside, the
captain promptly left his post and headed straight for her.

Dreading his answer, she asked, “Is something
wrong, Captain?”

“
There’s always something wrong—that’s why I’m
here: to make sure no trouble comes to you.” He held out his arm
for her.

Before she could formulate a reason why she
shouldn’t, she politely slipped her hand into the crook of his arm.
“Some would say trouble has already come to me.”

Captain Thorne frowned as he tried to puzzle
out her response.

“
And we are going . .
.?”

“
To your home,” the captain
informed her. “Considering these troubled times, I thought it best
to see you there safely.”

Jaytsy was aware of her schoolmates watching
them, and she worried that the captain could hear their
tittering.

“
I’m sure there’s nothing
to fret about now. The towers are quiet, and so are the roads,” she
said.“I can make it home myself. I usually go to meet my mother and
brother at their school anyway,” and she released his
arm.

He took her hand back. “Miss Jaytsy,” he said
with a gentleness that sounded more rehearsed than sincere, “I’m
concerned about
your father
. He still seems greatly affected
by what happened in Idumea.”

Jaytsy cringed. So the fort knew something
was wrong, too.

“
I happened to be near the
hospital when my father and grandfather brought him to see his
parents. Miss Jaytsy, I don’t think he’s quite over that
experience. His eyes were nearly dead that day, and in many ways
they still are. It’ll take him some time to recover, so I’m here to
watch out for your family.” His tone was so smooth and slick that
it made Jaytsy think of snakes. “In case he’s unable to help you,
know that I will. So, if you want to go to your mother’s school,
then I’ll walk you there instead.”

Jaytsy tried not to groan too loudly as she
squirmed in annoyance. She didn’t want to discuss her father. She
didn’t want this kind of attention. And she most certainly didn’t
want to be courted.

Well, maybe she did. Just not by Lemuel
Thorne.

She had to do something with the captain who
seemed intent on possessing her hand, requiring the rest of her to
follow. “On second thought, I guess we can go to my home.”

Thorne patted her hand. “We can talk there
until your mother arrives.”

It hadn’t occurred to her that no one would
be at her house, and being there with him alone wasn’t appropriate.
But she couldn’t suggest now going to the boys’ school again. Not
that she cared at all about his opinion of her, she didn’t want to
seem that flighty. “Talk about what?”

“
Goals, ambitions, the
future.”

Jaytsy scoffed a laugh. “Oh, is
that
all! I thought maybe hobbies, what you like to read, what’s the
dullest thing in Edge compared to Idumea. Something less
commonplace than ‘ambitions.’”

She glanced sideways and saw confusion on
Thorne’s face as he pondered her sarcasm. “Funny,” he decided.

Jaytsy sighed. If one had to analyze if
something is ‘funny,’ then one usually had a weak grasp of what
‘funny’ is.

They walked in silence to her house, fortunately
not far away. All the way there Jaytsy tried to think of ways to
abandon Thorne on the front porch to avoid ‘talking.’ When they
reached the steps, Jaytsy released his arm, shook his hand
formally, and said, “Thank you for the escort, Captain. I have a
great deal of school work to do. Perhaps we can talk another
time.”

The captain, a bit surprised, nodded. “Only
if you’ll call me Lemuel when we’re alone.”

“
Oh, I can’t do
that
,” Jaytsy said with feigned brightness. “I’m not sixteen
yet. Can’t break the expectations of society, now, can we?” She
turned abruptly, ran up the stairs into the house, shut the door,
and bolted it while the captain still stood at the steps with his
mouth open trying to form a response.

He was determined, she had to give him that.
He was there every afternoon the next week to walk her home again.
They rarely talked about anything but army life or horses.
Actually,
he
did all the talking, about his paternal
grandfather’s stables and how he’d produced a breed of horse that
was not only strong but fast. Jaytsy heard every dull, agonizing
detail.

She soon realized that if she let Thorne
ramble, she could think of other things as they walked, while
giving him an occasional, “Uh-huh,” or “Is that so?” to keep him
going. He never noticed that she wasn’t listening. And when they
reached her front doorstep, she ran up the stairs before he could
say or do anything else.

She’d never been so happy to see the Late
Planting Season Break come a couple of weeks later. Life was tenser
at home with her father’s bad nights—even with Shem helping to
mollify him—and Jaytsy had already decided she’d spend as much time
away as she could during the break by volunteering to help plant
the neighboring farms. Every last piece of vacant land was to be
turned into a garden to replace the reserves Edge took from
Idumea—except for the Shins’ gardens which no one thought would
produce anything but rock—and every available body was needed to
work.

Jaytsy could be gone before breakfast, when
her father would do nothing but stare at his plate and drum his
fingers, and not return until after dinner, when he’d speak only in
stilted sentences.

Before the break, Captain Thorne patted her
hand. “Just because school is out for a week doesn’t mean I can’t
continue seeing you. Let’s think of a time—”

She interrupted him with a sigh of sadness
that she thought sounded quite authentic. “I’ve volunteered to help
with the late planting this year. I’ll be in different fields every
day, so I don’t know how you could
ever
find me.”

Captain Thorne smiled. “Sounds like a
challenge, Miss Jaytsy. Besides, the fort will be receiving some
new horses from the Stables at Pools, and even though they’re not
of my grandfather’s herds, I look forward to telling you about each
one of them . . .”

He
had
tried to find her. Jaytsy had seen
him searching the fields each day as he rode by. She’d repurposed
one of her grandmother’s floppy hats she inherited to not only
shade her but disguise her as well. Her mother thought it odd that
Jaytsy wanted to work in the fields, but believed her excuse that
she felt it was the family’s duty that someone finally learn
something about farming.

By the time school began again on the
2
^nd
Day of Weeding, Jaytsy had hoped that Captain Thorne
had found someone else more interesting. Many girls had flirted
with him as he stopped by the fields inquiring after her. They
pretended to not know where or who she was, so that they could keep
the captain all to themselves.

But on that first day back to school, there
was Captain Thorne waiting as usual against the fence.

Jaytsy made sure she was the last one out of
the building, hoping that the captain was there to escort someone
else. No such luck.

As walked out of the school, Thorne put on a
thick, sweet smile that would have excited bees. “You look well,
Miss Jaytsy! None too damaged by laboring in the fields, I
see.”

“
Actually, I rather enjoyed
it. But don’t tell my mother or she might disown me,” she said,
obligingly taking his offered arm.

Thorne frowned at her comment, but said,
“Well I certainly hope you’re done with all that. Your mother
likely feels as I do, that on your hands and knees in the dirt
isn’t your proper place. Now, I’m sure you’re eager to hear about
my new horse. He’ll arrive soon, and I’ve already decided to call
him Streak. You see, he’s—”

Jaytsy decided it was enough. It wasn’t fair
to him and, she decided, this drudgery really wasn’t fair to
her.

“
Captain Thorne,” she
interrupted him. “
Lemuel
,” she said more kindly, noticing
out of the corner of her eye that he smiled when she said his name.
“I appreciate your trying to take care of me, but I think you’d
find your time better spent doing . . . something else.”

After a silent moment he said, “What do you
mean?”

Jaytsy closed her eyes, wishing she’d planned
this conversation further than to the first thing which popped into
her mind. “It’s just that, um, everything’s fine and . . . I’m not
ready for this. I’m not interested in ‘walking and talking’ for a
few more years still.”

The captain’s pace slowed a little.

She glanced at his jaw and saw it tense.
“But, Captain, many girls here are. You may not realize it, but you
have quite a following at the school. Say the word and you’ll have
a line of girls, older, prettier, and more
ready
than me
waiting for a chance with you!”

She felt his arm flex under her hand. “You
don’t understand, Miss Jaytsy,” he said in a low, cool voice. “You
don’t breed the prized stallion with just any filly. Not even
casually.”

She knew her mouth was hanging open
ludicrously, but she couldn’t make it close. Her stomach lurched
with disgust as she realized she was nothing more than . . . than
breeding stock?

“
No, Miss Jaytsy,” he said decisively, “I’ll just
wait for you to be ready. In time you’ll see that this joining will
be the most advantageous, to produce the best heir of our
grandfathers. There’s no one else worthy of the blood of Thornes
than the blood of Shins.”

Breeding stock for another general of the
Army of Idumea!

Jaytsy wished for something sharp and cutting
to come out of her mouth, but all she could do was will herself to
get home so she could kick something.

He didn’t love her. He wasn’t even
interested
in her. Just her bloodlines.

Captain Thorne patted her arm a little too
forcefully. “Yes. Fine. We have time,” he said vaguely.

Shocked and repulsed, Jaytsy couldn’t imagine
how to respond and barely endured holding his arm.

When they reached her house, he grudgingly
released her. She started in a quick dash for the stairs, but
didn’t make it. Lemuel lunged, caught her arm, and pulled her
back.

“
Just so you know what you
can look forward to.” He gripped both of her arms, pulled her close
to his body, and kissed her firmly. Jaytsy’s mind went blank, and
she desperately tried to recall any of the techniques her father
taught her many weeks ago. All she could do was flail, but it was
enough that he let her go.

He touched the satisfied smile on his mouth,
then had the nerve to bow to her. “Until you’re ready for more,
Miss Jaytsy.” And he tipped his cap and promptly left.

Jaytsy ran into the house and washed out her
mouth with the hottest water she could get from the warm water
pump.

Throughout dinner Jaytsy had watched her
parents, wondering if she should tell them what had happened with
the captain. But her father stared at his plate, stabbing
aggressively at his pork chop, and her mother watched him, barely
picking at her dumplings. Her brother wolfed down his dinner in
record time then headed back outside with his old kickball. Jaytsy
sighed and considered that maybe tomorrow would be a better day to
talk.