The Falcon in the Barn (Book 4 Forest at the Edge series) (89 page)

“
Maybe we should have kept
Peto home this morning,” she worried.

“
This is all about you and
me, remember? Not him. He needs a distraction anyway. I don’t think
he knows what to think right now.”

“
That makes three of us
then, right?”

He pursed his lips. “Now what?”

Mahrree sighed. “Go back upstairs and laze
around in bed for the rest of the morning?”

He smiled sadly, until another knock
surprised them both. Hesitantly, Perrin opened the door.

Rector Yung stood there with his usual
cheerful smile. “Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Shin!”

A movement on the road caught Perrin’s eye.
“Yung, you’re a brave man. As much as I’d like to talk to you, two
soldiers have just arrived at the end of the road and are watching.
Perhaps you should just leave. I’d hate for anything—”

Rector Yung held up his hand. “And another
one followed me here. I care nothing for what they can do to me. If
I meet the Creator today or in five years, it doesn’t matter, as
long as I complete His errands. I have one more to do today. Shin
family, I’m here to bid you farewell.”

“
What?” Mahrree exclaimed.
“Where are you going?”

“
It seems my rectory is
needed more by the Administrators than by the citizens of Edge.
And, since The Writings have been declared to be mythology and
nothing more, there’s no longer a need for Holy Day services,” he
said with a pained smile.

“
No!” Mahrree
cried.

Perrin shook his head in disbelief.“They’re
just stopping everything and
taking
it from you?”

“
Apparently I haven’t paid
certain taxes over the years,” Yung said, “although my
records—which they’ve confiscated—say otherwise. So the
Administrators, in their
generous
manner, instead of
incarcerating me are allowing me to go on my way provided I hand
over the property.”

Mahrree sighed. “This is about last night,
isn’t it? Perrin told me what you did for us. You were so brave,
and now this is your reward? I am so sorry!”

Rector Yung held up his hand again. “Not at
all. Rectories all over the world are being closed. Besides, my
main work here is finished, except for one last thing: Perrin,
Mahrree—”

It must have been serious. He’d never before
called them by their first names.

“
Become very,
very
quiet,” he whispered. He stared intently into each of their eyes to
see if they received the message.

Mahrree smiled sadly. “Rector Yung, if
there’s one thing I want to do now, it’s to never make another peep
in this village again.”

He smiled back. “I didn’t mean it as an
admonition, Mahrree, but as a recommendation for the future. The
quieter you both are, the faster all of this will just . . .
go
away
.”

The way he said those two last words added an
extra meaning which neither she nor Perrin could quite discern, but
they nodded anyway.

Suddenly brighter, Yung said, “Would you
please give Peto and the Briters my best wishes? I think this is
the only stop I dare to make on my way out of Edge.”

“
This is just wrong,”
Perrin said. “Where will you go?”

“
I have many friends, a few
in the same situation as me now. We’ll keep ourselves occupied, I
have no doubt. And I also have no doubt we’ll meet again. This is
only temporary, I’m sure.”

“
Please be careful!”
Mahrree squeezed Yung’s arm.

“
Of course,” he nodded to
them. “You too. I best be going now. The soldiers
get bored
easily
.” Again, there was another level of meaning, and that
time Mahrree caught on to all he recommended, as did her
husband.

Go quiet, bore the soldiers, and they’ll go
away.

“
Wait,” Perrin said,
looking around him. “You don’t have any bags with you.”

“
I’ve never been one for
many possessions,” he assured them. “And there’s nothing from the
world I want to take with me anyway. The aides to the
Administrators took my copy of The Writings, as I suspect
they’ll take others
—” another hint, “—and recently my chair
broke, so there’s really nothing left. Until we meet again,
Shins!”

He trotted down the stairs, whistling
cheerfully, and headed east.

Perrin closed the door again. “Unbelievable.
Are we even in Edge anymore?”

Mahrree wiped her eyes. “He seems to think
it’s all temporary as well. That’s what we have to hope for—that
none of this is forever. We need a distraction,” she decided.

“
So what do we do
next?”

“
Hide our copy of The
Writings, then get to work . . . here?” Mahrree
suggested.

Perrin looked around. “Plenty of things
around here I’ve been neglecting. I’ll start with the front door
here. Feels a little tight. Make me a list and I’ll get this house
in shape.”

“
And I’ll get to the
washing,” Mahrree agreed.

It was the strangest of mornings.

Mahrree felt the rhythm of their life had
abruptly shifted, as if they no longer knew how to do anything
correctly or at the right time. She should have been at school, he
at the fort . . .

They might as well have had breakfast for
dinner sitting on their front porch wearing their bedclothes while
loudly singing Harvest Day songs and snorting like pigs at their
neighbors.

Instead, they shared stiff smiles as they
passed each other while they halfheartedly completed chores that
should have been done on other days.

By late morning Perrin was out in the back
garden sanding the new cradle he had been working on for the
baby.

Well, perhaps calling it a “cradle” was a bit
of a stretch. Since it was a Perrin Shin creation that meant there
was nothing dainty or impractical about it; it was a baby bed that
could withstand a land tremor strong enough to bring down the house
around it, while keeping its occupant secure within its barred
sides. Mahrree had never seen a cradle made of full timbers before,
but having watched the construction of her bed many years ago, she
wasn’t surprised to see what wood Perrin requisitioned for his
grandchild.

Jaytsy wasn’t surprised either, but Deck had
stared at the timbers and design in bafflement. Perhaps he fretted
about the disposition of his new baby, considering that Perrin felt
it required a miniature incarceration chamber, but he knew his
father-in-law well enough to not ask. It was sturdy enough to
contain even Peto. Perrin had tested that aspect for an hour one
evening with his reluctant son before he began sanding it to make
sure tiny fingers received no splinters.

Through the small washroom window Mahrree
watched him as she rung out the clothes in the sink. Several times
he looked toward Fort Shin, his jaw shifting, his eyes scanning the
alleyway. Then he’d look down at the cradle, smile feebly at it,
and continue sanding the beefy bars.

She sighed. Maybe if they had had time to
prepare, if they could have planned for the change, they wouldn’t
have left so many loose ends at the fort and the school that others
needed to tie up.

But Perrin’s resignation was the right
decision. They’d spent half the night discussing it, and both felt
a release of pressure and weight. But now she would have
appreciated a little of that weight back. She felt as if they were
floating aimlessly, tied to nothing and not knowing where they
would end up.

Mahrree smiled as The Cat rub up against
Perrin’s leg. He bent down to scratch his ears for a moment before
staring at the dirt.

She remembered once when Peto became
separated from her at the market when he was three. When she
finally found him wasn’t panicked or crying, just a little sad.
There was a hint of that look in Perrin’s eyes today.

“
Dear Creator,” she
whispered, “what can he do now? The fort was such a large part of
his life. Please help him find his way. Help him find a new
purpose. And please help us get out of this mess I
created.”

By midday meal Perrin had finished the cradle
and shored up the wobbly fence posts. He absent-mindedly ate his
food, but a few times he sent The Dinner smile to Mahrree.

“
This is nice, isn’t it?”
he said, not believing a word of it.

“
It certainly is!” Mahrree
agreed with just as much conviction. “I’m sure Deck could use some
help this afternoon,” she hinted.

He nodded. “I’d thought of that. The cattle
should be in the pasture by now so they won’t stampede at the sight
of me. He had some leaks in the barn roof I could take care of.
Always wanted to be builder, right? Today’s my day to see if that’s
my new calling.”

Mahrree nodded back. “When do you think
Shem’s due back?”

Perrin sighed. “Three weeks he has off. No
way Thorne would let him stay now. Much easier for him to do
whatever he’s planning without Zenos breathing down his neck.”

It was what the young captain might be
planning that had Mahrree concerned. “Do you think Shem could get
us a message, to tell us what’s happening?”

“
How? He’s not going to
know what’s going on.”

Mahrree squirmed. “Perrin, I’m worried. I
know you said probably nothing is coming at us, but I wished I knew
for sure. Maybe we could send a message to Karna or Yordin or
Fadh—”

“
How?” Perrin said again.
“Any mail I send by the regular messengers will undoubtedly be
checked. I don’t have soldiers at my disposal anymore. I don’t even
have Clark. He’s in the stables of the fort. I don’t dare go up
there to retrieve him, and I’m not entirely sure if he’s my horse
or the fort’s.”

“
Maybe the other commanders
will send us a message?”

Perrin bobbed his head. “Once they hear about
what happened I imagine we may get something. Probably opened and
read. We should lie low and quiet, as Yung suggested, and be model
citizens, then . . . we’ll see what’s next. All right?”

She nodded miserably.

He stood up, leaned over the table, and
kissed her. “It will get better, I promise.”

She sat up tall and produced her fearless
face, which she’d become good at pulling out over the years. “I’m
married to the most wonderful man in the world. How could my life
be any better?”

He straightened up and studied her. “Have I
ever told you that you are the perfect woman, and that I love and
adore you more than words can express?”

She grinned. “Yes, you have. Every day!”

He kissed her again. “I’ll be home by dinner.
I can promise
that.
”

---

Perrin hopped over the fence into the alley.
“I’m going over to my son-in-law’s house,” he said loudly, “to work
on his barn. I’ll be home by dinner. I’m sure the soldier hiding in
his
foliage will keep a good enough watch on me. You have
permission to take a nap.”

“
Thank you, sir!” the voice
in the tree above him said. It was followed by a groan and the
sound of a hand smacking a forehead.

Perrin chuckled as he walked down the alley.
“And later,” he murmured to himself, “I think I’ll learn how to
chop down some trees. The wood pile’s looking a little low.”

He turned from the alley on to the main road
that led to the fort. For a moment he considered trying not to see
it, although once he passed the last row of houses, nothing else
would be in his view other than Deckett and Jaytsy’s place. But as
soon as he stepped on the road he analyzed the fort
objectively.

It was made of wood. It had walls. And
soldiers. And horses. Weapons. Paperwork. Supply lists.
Regulations. Duty Rosters. Training schedules. Messages from
Idumea. Reports. More reports. Reports of reports.

And none of it, absolutely
none
of it,
was his responsibility.

A smile crept around his mouth. He let it
grow.

Not
his
responsibility.

He chuckled.

That was quite a liberating feeling. He took
in a deep breath and smelled, perhaps for the first time ever, the
dirt of Deck’s farm as he approached it. Every morning for the past
nineteen years at this point in his walk to the fort he had been
mentally listing his duties for the day. He couldn’t remember if he
had ever actually smelled the dark earth before. It was welcoming,
interesting, new. Something for him to explore.

Explore.

The word sat in his mind, rapidly growing,
until it filled every crevice. Exciting possibilities grew with it.
Explore
. . .

His fantasy was interrupted by a group of six
soldiers approaching him on their way into the village. The first
test, he thought. Feeling a familiar twitch in his arm he knew he’d
be fighting for a long time, he shoved his saluting hand into his
trouser’s pocket.

As the soldiers neared they recognized the
man in the rough spun brown shirt and worn black trousers. Three
automatically saluted. Two others began but then stopped, their
arms bouncing absurdly up and down near their foreheads, unsure of
what to do next. The last soldier merely nodded and bit his
lip.

Perrin nodded back. “Gentlemen. Good day,” he
said genially as he passed. His right arm flinched, desperately
wanting to salute back. He did, however, allow his index finger to
do a miniature salute in the safety of his pocket.

This was going to be harder than he
thought.

Another group of soldiers now came his way,
at least a dozen. Several of them recognized him and their eyes
flashed in alarm.

I should get a hat
, Perrin considered.
Something straw or felt with a wide brim like Deckett’s that
shields my face from the sun. Maybe let my hair grow out a bit. No
need to keep it above my ears and collar anymore. Could even try
growing a beard for once. Mahrree would probably hate it,
though.