Soldier at the Door (43 page)

Then, more seriously, he added in a low voice, “Major, I can’t believe a word of what they suggested. Yes, there are coincidences, but that doesn’t mean anything. Who’d betray you and target your family? And why?”

That’s what Perrin had been wondering for the past ten minutes.

No, actually for the past three weeks.

Dozens of houses were hit, but that two of the houses belonged to his family, and a third was right next door to his mother-in-law, had seemed blatant. No other houses near them had been raided by the approximately sixty Guarders.

He could put together enough reasons of ‘why.’ He was the commander of Edge, after all, and hitting him would send a clear message about the Guarders’ knowledge of the village.

But it was the question of ‘who’ was sending that message that gnawed at him.

And old familiar suspicion rose up in his mind, cold and dark. Perhaps this was why it had been there since the beginning, deman
ding that he reconsider his feelings about a certain young soldier.

“Karna, get me Zenos. NOW!”

-
--

A few minutes later Corporal Zenos bounded up the stairs two at a time and knocked lightly on the major’s door.

“Come in!”

Zenos opened the door and leaned in casually. His happy blue eyes sparkled. “You wanted to see me, sir? Any messages I can deliver?”

“At attention, Zenos!” the major barked.

The corporal’s face went gray and immediately he stood stiffly.

Major Shin stood up and walked behind him to slam the door shut. He positioned himself to stare at Zenos from the side.

Zenos swallowed nervously and Shin waited until the corporal began to sweat under his gaze.

Quietly
Shin spoke. “I’ve just had two visitors, Corporal, who made some very serious allegations.”

“Yes sir?” Zenos said, trying unsuccessfully to hide his worry.

“There have been rumors in the village that perhaps the raids were assisted by someone
inside
Edge.”

Zenos said nothing.

“Do you have any insight into those allegations, soldier?”

“No sir! I can’t imagine who would do such a thing, sir.”

“Corporal Zenos, your name has been connected to the raids.”

That drew a response. Zenos turned sharply to face Major Shin,
forgetting all about attention and protocol and his position. “Sir! Never! I’d give my life for you, for Jaytsy, for Peto, for Mahrree—”

“THAT’S
MRS. SHIN
TO YOU!” the major bellowed in his face.

Zenos abruptly went back to standing at attention. But his face wouldn’t obey. His eyes grew wet and his smooth chin trembled. “I would give my life for Mrs. Shin, sir. And even her mother. All I do is to save lives, sir.”

“Corporal Zenos,” the major’s voice was menacingly unemotional, “there were three groups of Guarders that left the forest that night. You noticed the first one, approximately twenty, by
your
count, who ran on foot. You were on horseback, yet didn’t catch up to them until the village, where you
abandoned
your horse and pursued on foot. Why?”

Zenos’s jaw shifted. “I was watching for the different directions they went, Major Shin. So I could report their progress to the other soldiers. And I did, sir. Remember, I told you that I reported the movements to the soldiers coming home from your debate before I followed the intruders to the Arky house. So that the other soldiers could be in pursuit as well. Sir.” He swallowed hard again.

“There’s something else that has troubled me, Zenos,” Major Shin said, maintaining his glare. “When you were in the Arky home you didn’t draw your sword. Three witnesses said you fought the Guarder, but you didn’t use any weapon. Why is that, soldier?”

“All I do is to save lives, sir,” he repeated.

“That’s not good enough!” the major yelled. “Being in the army means
taking
lives when necessary, Corporal! You’ve been trained, you were in a deadly situation wherein you nearly lost your life. There was a very real possibility that the intruder could have taken the lives of three Edge citizens because YOU failed to do your DUTY! Two other soldiers had to complete the job you refused to do. Why did you refuse to do it, Zenos?!”

Zenos couldn’t answer. He gulped and shook his head.

The major considered him for a moment. Zenos had remarkable access to Edge. His natural charm and cheerful face seemed to get him anywhere, even in the butcher’s before it opened and the bakery after it closed.

Even into the very home of the commanding officer of Edge, unsupervised, and with completely unrestricted access.

The major scolded himself for such carelessness, such unmitigated trust in someone barely older than a boy. The major half closed his eyes when he considered how often he had left his own children in Zenos’s care. How often he sent him to his wife, alone. He’d had his suspicions, but he’d decided to ignore them because he
liked
the boy. He had trusted his family
completely
in the hands of . . .

Shin shook his head slightly. “Corporal Shem Zenos, I expect an honest answer: Are you a Guarder?”

The answer was swift and loud, “No sir!”

“Corporal Shem Zenos, where is the spy you used to feed in the forest?!”

“Gone, sir! Three seasons ago. Remember, sir, we both looked for him. I haven’t seen him since, sir!”

“Corporal Shem Zenos, are you that Guarder spy?!” Shin yelled.

“No sir!” Zenos shouted louder.

“Corporal Shem Zenos,
can you prove it
?!” Shin bellowed in his face.

Zenos’s breathing became more shallow and rapid. A disobed
ient tear slipped down his cheek. “I . . . I don’t know how to, sir!”

“You could have proved it by drawing your sword!” Major Shin stared at him until Zenos began to tremble. “Or were you afraid of hurting one of
your friends?
”

Zenos quaked. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

“Granted.”

Zenos’s eyes darted to see his accuser, but the rest of his body continued to face forward. “I can’t prove anything to you. All I can say is, you
must
have faith in me. Sir, have I ever,
ever
done anything you couldn’t trust?”

“No, Zenos, you haven’t,” the major admitted. “But I want fu
rther proof!”

Zenos slowly shook his head. “I have nothing to offer. But sir, there’s one way for you to know. Ask the Creator. He can tell you if I should be trusted. And sir, if I may be so bold, I believe He already has.”

“That is too bold, Zenos!” Major Shin shouted.

The tension was so thick even a sword didn’t have a chance to ding it. The air sat heavily around the two men, threatening to swa
llow them.

“And so what’s the answer, sir?” Zenos asked courageously.

“You
are
brash, soldier!” Shin shouted.

The major growled under his breath in aggravation. Neither spoke for several moments as the air in the command office squeezed them.

Shin stared at Zenos.

Zenos stared straight ahead and trembled.

Perrin couldn’t fight the feeling anymore. How it came to him, he wasn’t entirely sure, but it was everything that was Hogal Densal, and it was something he’d heard before.

My boy, trust this boy.

The words came with softness and warmth. Perrin’s suspicions, in contrast, always came in cold darkness. Those suspicions, he realized now, came from someone
other
than the Creator. But Perrin could always trust Hogal, who suddenly seemed so close that Perrin could almost feel his eyebrows waggling in encouragement.

In a voice barely above a whisper Perrin said, “Zenos, som
etimes I think you are the only man I
can
trust. I wished I knew why.”

“Thank you, sir!” Zenos exhaled in relief, his shoulders sagging as he forgot about standing at attention. “You can, sir, with an
ything.”

“Then,
Shem
,” Perrin asked quietly, “why didn’t you draw your sword?” 

Zenos’s face contorted. “I’m sorry, sir. The truth is, I didn’t want to. I never believed in taking a life. I was sure I could stop him some other way. But sir, I’ve never encountered someone so violent before. I misjudged the danger.” He firmed his stance. “It won’t happen again, sir. I see now too much is at stake. In the future I’ll draw my sword, and even use it.”

“Shem,” Perrin said gently, “you don’t have to kill the man. Only disable him. Give him something to remember you by.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll remember that, sir.”

Major Shin moved over to sit at his desk. He gestured to the chair across from him and Zenos sat down, looking ill and pale.

In a barely audible voice Perrin said, “I’m sorry, Shem. I had to eliminate the idea. I know you’re not a spy, but I had to be sure.”

“I understand, sir,” Shem’s trembling diminished to a minor tremor. “Sir, is there really someone
here
targeting your family?”

“I don’t know,” the major sighed. “I have so many questions. They knew which houses contained my family, almost as if they had
a map. But when we can’t capture any Guarders alive to interrogate, we get no answers. Rather efficient process they have—commit suicide before questioning. Almost admirable if it weren’t so depraved . . .”

Major Shin sat thinking about that for so long that the corporal became visibly uncomfortable.

“Hmm,” the major finally broke the silence. “Zenos, can you do something for me?”

“Yes sir, anything!”

“Would you deliver a message to my home?” Major Shin began to smile.

Zenos burst into a relieved grin. “I live to serve, sir!”

“Just tell her the storm has yet to pass, to keep her eye on the horizon and watch the color of the sky. She’ll know what it means. Then you take a thorough look around the area, to appease me, and report back.”

Zenos nodded and stood up to leave.

“And Zenos,” the major added, “I’m going to tell her that you called her by her first name. I may require an explanation about that later.”

Zenos grinned. “Yes sir!”

Perrin sat back in his chair as Shem closed the door.

“So Hogal,” he whispered to the room, “who wants to destroy my family? I could really use your insight right about now.”

His office answered him nothing.

---

Mahrree watched Shem walk up the alley and back down again for the fifth time, after he circled the house four times. She’d kept track of his patrolling as she cleaned up her children’s efforts to rearrange every item in the house located waist-high and lower. There were no creatures in the world quite so good at hiding things as toddlers. Mahrree was just replacing in the kitchen a pair of tongs—scrubbed clean—that she found in the washing room behind the privy, when she spotted Shem again from her window. He didn’t notice her watching him, but when she stepped out on to the back porch, he glanced over and nodded formally.

“Corporal,” she waved him over.

He shook his head.

Mahrree put her hands on her waist and raised her eyebrows in reprimand.

The corporal sighed and hopped over the fence. Barker came out of his house to greet him, and Shem petted him on the head half-heartedly. Slowly he walked up to the back porch.

“Ma’am?”

Mahrree rolled her eyes. “Something’s up besides a
storm report
. You’re going to talk. Now get in here,
Shem!
”

She didn’t know why he looked so gray as he obediently walked into the house and went to the gathering room, but she had a susp
icion. The surgeon had declared him fit for duty only a few days ago, but Mahrree thought the surgeon would clear a dying man too, simply to improve his turnaround numbers.

“Are you feeling all right?” she asked, reaching up to gently touch the healing scar at his hairline. “It’s too soon for you to be p
atrolling again, I know it. You look terrible.”

Corporal Zenos tensed at her touch. He shook his head slightly and stood at attention. “I’m fine, ma’am.”

“Oh, stop that!” she smacked his arm. “We’re alone. Even the children are napping. Now, what have I told you? You’ve been doing it so well, too. No one’s around. Come on, Shem, you can do it.”

“Sorry . . .
Mahrree
.” He winced as he said her first name.

She nodded and grinned. “Much better. See? That’s not so hard. Now, what’s going on? My little brother doesn’t keep secrets from me now, does he?”

Shem exhaled and relaxed his stance. “Um, your husband . . . he, uh . . . thought I was . . .”