Soldier at the Door (12 page)

She didn’t notice him looking at her. “I’ve had to negotiate with my husband on numerous occasions,” she murmured. “So how do we find out what they want?” she wondered, forgetting to keep her voice low. “I mean, it’s too late for me, but not for others—”

Zenos squinted, trying to understand what she meant by that.

“—if we can only
make it
through
their lands . . .” She paused, biting her lower lip in thought.

Zenos glanced at her waiting for her to finish her sentence so he could figure out what she might be talking about it. He was going to be disappointed.

When she continued again she had already jumped ahead. “So how do we negotiate with Guarders?!”

Zenos shook his head and shrugged. “I suppose that’s what I’m for, ma’am. I’m trying to learn what I can. We have that lost one I’ve been feeding from time to time. It seems they usually work in pairs, but this one lost his companion and is pretty erratic. Sometimes he’s gone for weeks, then he’s back again for several days.”

“So what else has he told you?” Mahrree whispered earnestly.

He cleared his throat again. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I don’t think I’m allowed to tell you. If your husband won’t tell you, then—”

Mahrree kicked a stone in irritation. “So you
have
learned something interesting, haven’t you?!”

Zenos exhaled. “I . . . I don’t really know what would qualify as interesting—”

“Come
on
,” she whispered. “Tell me why they’re here! What do they want from Edge? From the world? What would make them leave the forests?”

Zenos looked over at her again, this time a little alarmed at her intensity. “Ma’am, um, I really don’t know . . . yet. But I’m working on it.”

“Well, you better be!” she said firmly. She looked over at him and noticed he was grinning again. “What?”

“You . . . you’re just not anything like I imagined you would be. Ma’am,” he remembered to add.

Mahrree furrowed her brows. “And what did you imagine me to be?”

He blushed. “Uh, I guess like all the other women around here.”

“Hmm.” Mahrree thought about his evaluation. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

He chuckled. “That’s what it was meant to be!”

Mahrree gestured to turn at the next road. “My house is the second one on the left there. The one without a proper garden.”

Zenos nodded. “Now who decides what’s a ‘proper’ garden?”

“It’s about time you gave a good response, soldier—my thoughts exactly! I’ll forgive you that you phrased it as a question again, though. But you’re right—it’s proper to me. But it’s not proper to my mother,” she added.

They walked across the road and Mahrree opened the low gate for the private.

“I thank you for your help,” she smiled as he pulled the wagon into the front yard. “And I’m sure my neighbors and everyone else at the market who’ve heard enough of my wailing babies also thank you.”

She expected him to tip his cap and leave her, but he didn’t. I
nstead he lifted Jaytsy carefully out of the wagon and set her down.

“I can stay and watch your daughter while you feed your son, ma’am. I’m off duty right now, and you have enough rocks in your ‘proper’ garden that I can teach her how to ‘properly’ throw them,” he suggested.

Mahrree bit her lip. Another tempting offer. Usually Jaytsy emptied the lower levels of the bookshelves while Mahrree put Peto to sleep.

But she felt odd about letting a soldier watch her little girl.

Then again, Perrin
did
say he was impressed with him. That’s why he was so pleased when Zenos signed a two-year commitment. Maybe she
could
trust this sweet-faced young man who was now watching her little girl pick up small stones.

Jaytsy started to put one in her mouth, and the private quickly stopped her and showed her how to throw it instead. She giggled when it bounced on the ground.

There had never been another soldier who had ever offered to help. In fact, every other soldier she’d encountered took one look at the children and sidled away; even Yip, who ran the fastest and was appointed to be Perrin’s messenger to the family. The soldiers were probably worried someone small would drool on their uniforms.

Private Zenos crouched and handed pebble after pebble to Jaytsy, grinning at her in genuine pleasure. Mahrree couldn’t r
emember the last time she had ever seen a young man enjoy a baby.

Mahrree shrugged. “All right, Private Zenos. I think I’ll take you up on your offer. Her name’s Jaytsy, although she responds more frequently to ‘Puppy Dog.’ I should only be a few minutes—”

“Take all the time you need,” Zenos said, not shifting his gaze from Jaytsy as she picked up another rock, considered if she should taste it or toss it, then gave it a worthy heave. “There’s plenty of rock to keep us occupied for hours.”

Mahrree nodded and brought Peto into the house. In his be
droom she positioned the rocking chair so that she had a view out the window. She could see the image of the private through the thick wavy glass, and the smaller smudge that was her daughter. She never took her eyes off the window while she fed Peto.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the soldier, but . . . well, all right—she didn’t trust the soldier. Why was he
so
willing to be helpful?

Mahrree pondered that while she nursed Peto who, within ten minutes, was sound asleep. She laid him in his cradle then went back outside.

From the front porch she watched as the private tried to show Jaytsy how to throw the rocks into a ring he drew in the dirt. It was a little too complex for Jaytsy to understand. Apparently she saw rings everywhere and was redistributing rocks throughout the garden.

The private looked up at Mahrree. “Ma’am! You’re finished sooner than I expected.”

As she walked down the stairs Mahrree wondered what he expected. “Peto was exhausted.”

“That’s his name? Peto? Rather unusual.”

Mahrree cringed inside, wondering if she should have revealed her son’s name. She already told him her daughter’s, but she had no reason to not trust the private.

“Yes. Peto’s my maiden name. My father never had a son to carry on his legacy, but we thought this could be a way to honor his name. It was actually the captain’s idea.”

Zenos nodded. “I’m sure your father’s very proud that you gave your son your family name.”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “He passed away when I was a teenager.” She flinched inside again. Why was she saying so much to this boy?

Zenos looked down at Jaytsy. “I’m sorry about your father, ma’am. I lost my mother when I was very young. If ever I have a daughter I’ll name her Meiki, in remembrance.”

Mahrree was surprised at how much sympathy she suddenly felt for him, but she did nothing more than smile slightly. “That’s a nice idea, Private.”

“Well!” he said suddenly and looked up at her. His blue eyes looked a little damp, but his engaging grin was back. “I suppose I’ll be on my way then, ma’am. It was good to meet you and your children. They’re adorable!”

Mahrree laughed. “Really? If you think flattering me will get you promoted more quickly—”

Zenos turned red. “Oh no, ma’am! That’s not my intention!”

“I know, I
know!” she chuckled. “I was only teasing you.”

“Understood, ma’am.” He grinned again in such a manner that any woman under twenty-five would have swooned. Probably many over twenty-five as well.

Mahrree’s mind ran through all the girls she knew, wondering which one might be an interesting match for him.

“I hope you have a good evening,” he said as he let himself out of the gate. “And a good evening is when both babies are asleep for an hour at the same time.”

Mahrree pointed at him. “Now, how would you know that?” She raised her eyebrows. “Are you a father?” Maybe it was already too late for her former students . . .

He shook his head quickly. “No, no—not at all! Maybe som
eday, but . . .” He looked flustered. “It’s just, it’s just what an older woman in my congregation back home used to say. I remembered it because it sounded funny.”

Mahrree nodded. “Well, she’s right. And Private Zenos, thank you again.”

-
--

That evening when Perrin came home, Mahrree told him she met his latest recruit.

“Really? Because he deserted almost as soon as he signed up.”

Mahrree’s mouth fell open. “Zenos
deserted?!
”

Perrin’s face relaxed. “No, not Zenos. A new boy I had come in today. Most skittish thing I’ve ever seen. I have to confess, I’m not disappointed he left. I had a feeling he’d be monopolizing my time.
General Cush sent a message only last week detailing how commanders need to help along the reluctant soldiers, how we’re ‘each responsible for making the recruits feel
needed
.’” He rolled his eyes. “Bit of a relief to realize I won’t have to follow Cush’s advice and spend an hour each day turning that trembling thing into a hardened soldier. What are boys like that even thinking when they sign up?”

“That you would take him under your wing like a mother hen, I guess. And then spend an hour each day with him? That doesn’t sound like your father’s idea.”

Perrin glowered. “It sounds like the
Command Board’s
idea, if you ask me. Three Administrators is three too many. My father sent a note suggesting I discourage, in a most
careful
way of course, those soldiers that take an inordinate amount of time to train. According to Zenos, the forest discouraged him all by itself.” His face brightened. “So, speaking of Zenos, what did you think of him?”

“He actually walked me and the children home, and taught Jaytsy how to throw rocks. We better make sure she’s not aiming for the windows.”

Perrin chuckled. “That sounds like Zenos.”

“He seems to be a nice young man. Never had a soldier volu
nteer to walk me home before. Besides
you
,” she smiled. “And even you didn’t walk me
all
the way home from the market when we were debating.”

“He is unusual,” Perrin said thoughtfully. “I must admit, he’s fast becoming one of my favorites. Walking my family home ce
rtainly helped solidify his claim.”

Earlier Mahrree had a few fluttering doubts about him, but if he
was one of Perrin’s favorites, she could let those doubts fly away.

“Mahrree, I just had a thought—what if I make him my me
ssenger to you?”

“He’d be better than Corporal Yip. The last time he came by Jaytsy was throwing a temper tantrum, and by the distressed look on Yip’s face you would have thought she was a Guarder committing suicide.”

“All right, then,” Perrin decided. “Our children require someone with a sterner stomach than Corporal Yip. I guess Zenos is our man.”

---

The patrols the next night went out in staggered formation, as instructed by the captain, in a new, irregular pattern. Along the forest’s edge the soldiers rode two, four, three at a time.

Past the fresh spring rode one group of three, allowing their horses to pause to get a drink in the run-off that trickled down from the forest. After a moment the soldiers clucked their horses to co
ntinue.

Unnoticed to anyone, a small rock slipped off the saddle of the last soldier, falling into the thick grasses.

Two minutes later a figure dressed in green and brown mottled clothing dropped out of the trees. The man picked up the rock, then slipped back into the forest.

Through the trees he meandered, skirting a steam vent, taking a wide path around a gaping cavern, and creeping over a ridge that sounded hollow under his boots before he finally slid into a secluded ravine.

There he nodded to several other men and one of them lit a candle. They unwrapped the paper tied around the rock and smoothed it.

Been to house. Have met all. Know all names.

Been made personal messenger to Shin family.

The group of men smiled.

“Excellent work, Private Zenos!” one of them whispered.

---

Two men sat in a dark room of an unlit building.

“I received the message toda
y,” Dr. Brisack announced. “Our man is in position, officially.”

Mal nodded. “Good, good. I hope the extensive training will be worth it. It’s a little later than I was expecting but I suppose it will have to suffice.”

“There are others willing and ready to go to other forts,” Brisack suggested. “We could place them as well.”

“Not really necessary yet,” Mal said easily. “Not until I see the kind of results we get out of Edge.”

“And what kind of results are you hoping for?”