The Forest at the Edge of the World (47 page)

“It’s not for me,” he said quickly. “It’s for
my brother
. His birthday. Want to get him something nice.”

The woman shrugged and opened the door to let him in. “I hope you can find something you like. Anything in particular?”

“Yes, actually,” he said with an awkward chuckle. “Do you have anything in . . . white?”

“A
white
coat?” she pulled a face. “White in Raining Season?”

He nodded eagerly. “My brother has always liked white. Why? Is that wrong?”

“Nothing wrong with white,” she answered quickly. “It’s just not very common.”

Gizzada nodded and looked at the clothing hanging on rods along the sides of the shop. His eyes were drawn immediately to one in particular. “Ah, this one, perhaps?” He walked over to a long white coat with a hood, edged in fur. “This is white!”

The woman winced. “Yes it is, but . . .”

“This is fur, isn’t it?” Gizzada stroked the fluffy white edges along the front and bottom. “Feels like a bunny I had once as a child.”

“It
is
rabbit,” the woman said gently trying to take it out of his hands. “The latest Idumean fashion. Perhaps such a coat would be inappropriate since it reminds you of a beloved pet—”

“Not
that
beloved. We turned it into an excellent stew. Carrots, turnips, onions—”

“Well, you see,” she said, clenching her teeth as he put it on and strained to wrap it around the front around his ample body, “it being the latest Idumean fashion means it’s also very
expensive
—”

The staff sergeant, stroking the white fur on the front, paused. “How expensive?”

“Twenty
full
slips of silver!” She looked appropriately shocked.

The sergeant went back to petting the memory of the stew. “That’s within my range, actually. At the very end of it, but—”

“It’s a
woman’s
coat!” the shop owner blurted. “You can’t buy it for your
brother!
”

Gizzada only slowed in his petting. “Doesn’t look like a wo
man’s coat to me.”

“But it will to everyone else. Look at the design of the rabbit fur—it’s stitched in butterflies!”

“Do you have any other white coats?”

“No,” she admitted, looking around frantically in case a coa
t decided to pale overnight in order to fit the sergeant’s odd need. “And it doesn’t close completely on your front. If your brother is the same size—”

The sergeant shook his head. “Need it only to close around the chest area. My brother is the same size there, but not down here,” he chuckled as he patted his round belly. “I’ll take it! It’s perfect.”

The woman rubbed her cheeks with one last protest. “But . . . people will laugh at your brother if he wears that in public!”

“He’s not expecting to be seen much in public with it, ma’am. And certainly not in Edge.”

“Not in Edge? Oh, well then. That’s different. Shall I wrap it for you?”

---

Karna walked tensely to the feed barn outside the compound as the sun was setting. Although the entire reason for what was about to take place had been explained to him, he still felt very ill at ease. His only consolation was that he wasn’t the only one unhappy about it.

He glanced around before stepping into the barn, but it was u
nnecessary.  Nearly every soldier was out on patrol on the new all-night training regime devised by the Command Board in Idumea.

Or so they were told.

Edge was the first to try the “experiment,” and while the soldiers weren’t too thrilled about altering their sleep schedules so that every last one of them was on the night shift, they were obedient. Besides, it had been dull for the past year, so this was definitely something new and even a bit exciting.

The lieutenant slipped into the barn and saw the lamp light co
ming from the middle of it. He made his way quickly there, weaving around large bales of hay, and when he saw the scene, kept his
pfft!
in his head.

“I still can’t believe you’re doing this, sir.”

“Not ‘sir’,” Perrin said as he finished unbuttoning his uniform jacket. He took it off and handed it to Grandpy Neeks, who also groaned in displeasure. “Without my uniform, I am no longer the captain. Just call me . . . Perrin,” he winked. “Told you that before, Brillen.” He stood in the frigid air in only his thin white undershirt, goose bumps developing on his large shoulders.

Gizzada winced and looked at the other two soldiers.

“When Idumea finds out . . .” Karna shook his head. “You remember what General Cush said after that first raid?”

“Yes, Brillen, I remember,” Perrin intoned. “
If
Idumea finds out, I’m out of the army. Well you know what? I don’t care what Cush, Mal, or even my father has to say about this. I’m not about to sit waiting for Guarders to come after my family! It’s not as if I’m violating the Creator’s law. It’s a rule made by a man who didn’t anticipate such a scenario. I have no doubt Pere Shin would approve of my breaking his rule to save his granddaughter-in-law and great grandchildren.”

Karna, Neeks and Gizzada exchanged dubious looks as Perrin began to unbutton his trousers.

“But you could lose your commission—”

“Brillen,” Perrin stopped unbuttoning midway, “I’d rather be an impoverished sausage-on-a-stick vendor in Moorland with a family, than be the next High General of Idumea knowing that I let my wife and children die. Mahrree would prefer to live as well, I’m sure. So I’ll do what’s right and let the Creator decide my fate.”

Grandpy Neeks sighed loudly and shook his head, while Gizzada bit his lip.

Karna cleared his throat. “So she believed your ‘night training’ story?”

“Of course she believed my story,” he said tersely, removing his trousers. “She trusts me implicitly, as she should. She knows I have to go out a second night, and perhaps for many more, to do my duty. But since none of you is married, I can see why you don’t understand.”

Neeks rubbed his mouth. “Can’t believe I’m watching this ha
ppen,” he murmured as Captain Shin—
Perrin
—handed him his trousers.

“You have no choice, Grandpy,” Perrin said, almost as coldly as he felt. “So quit complaining, all right?” He glanced down at himself
in only his thin undershirt and shorts. “At least these are white, too.” He shivered, picked up a thick knitted wool tunic—white—that lay on a bale of hay and pulled it over his head. Next he took a pair of brown woolen trousers and pulled those on.

“Sorry if they’re a little loose,” Gizzada apologized as Perrin fastened them in the front. “I had to guess at the size.”

“Not a problem,” Perrin said. “Better than being too tight.” Over the trousers he put on the only kind of white leg coverings Gizzada could find in the middle of Raining Season—thin linen dress trousers.

“Fit for a picnic, those are!” the staff sergeant smiled. “That’s what the shop keep told me. He wasn’t even sure why he still had them in stock, but fortunate for us, right sir? I mean,
Perrin?
”

Karna and Neeks glowered at Gizzada.

He looked back at them confused, unsure of the cause of their irritation.

“And now, for the final touch,” Perrin said as he lifted the long white coat off from another bale of hay.

Gizzada sighed. “It’s simply lovely, isn’t it?”

Perrin stopped in mid motion and stared at the staff sergeant.

“Could let your wife wear it when you’re finished. They do alterations at that shop,” Gizzada assured him.

“Do they also remove blood stains, Gizzada?” Perrin said heav
ily. “Because when I’m done with it, I anticipate this rabbit fur looking worse than the day it was slaughtered.”

Gizzada swallowed. “Perhaps Mrs. Shin would prefer another coat, then.”

“Perhaps Mrs. Shin will never
hear
about this coat, or any other coat from you, Staff Sergeant! That’s the entire reason I sent you, so no one would see me purchasing these things and telling my wife she might be getting a surprise. This is one surprise I never intend for her to find out about, right?” He thrust a fist through the sleeve of the white coat.

Gizzada shrank in his own overcoat and nodded quickly. “Of course, sir. Of course.”

“We all understand, Captain,” Karna said walking up to him. From his overcoat pocket he pulled out thick white gloves and a white knitted hat.

Perrin pulled the hat over his head, concealing his black hair
completely underneath.

“Not that we approve,
Perrin
,” Karna added.

The nearly all-white man acted as if he didn’t hear Karna finally calling him by his first name. It was likely because
Brillen’s tone was as foul as a sulfur pit.

Shin slipped on the gloves and said to his lieutenant, “Where are they?”

Karna pulled out the two long knives from another pocket, dulled so as to not catch any light that might reflect down from the two moons, nearly full that night.

“Excellent,” Shin said with a half smile. “Good work.” He slipped the two dulled knives into his waistband and put on his boots—the only things still black. He took two more shiny knives from a bale of hale and put them into the sides of his boots.

“Four knives,” Neeks said, slowly shaking his head.

“Yep,” Perrin said easily. “Not that I’m planning to lose all
of them, but one can never be too sure.” He took up the full quiver of arrows waiting on another bale of hay and slung it over his shoulder. “Are the other two quivers placed where I wanted them?”

Karna nodded. “Did it about half an hour ago. You have enough arrows to kill an army now.”

Perrin picked up the large bow and checked the string. “Nice choice, Brillen.”

“Your strength is in the sword,” Neeks reminded him.

“A sword is loud and obvious,” Perrin reminded back.

“Just like you,” Karna bravely whispered.

“Karna, I can’t help but notice my ‘second mind’ gets more vocal and braver the closer I get to the forest. And Grandpy, I’m sufficient with the bow,” Perrin assured him. “Not as skilled as Brillen, mind you, but I can take something out from a distance this way, unseen and mostly unheard.”

“This is madness,” Neeks hissed. “Goes against every single rule in the book. If the High General knew—”

Perrin rounded on the older man. “He will know
nothing,
Neeks! Not unless something goes terribly wrong. And then it will be too late for him to demote me. But if everything goes
right,
then what I’m about to do won’t matter at all. Is that understood, Master Sergeant?”

Neeks simply folded his arms. He’d been in the army too long to be intimidated by mere officers.

“You said you’re no longer the captain, remember? And since I have more experience than Karna, in a battle situation
I’m
in command. And if I don’t like what I see happening, I’ll use that position and pull rank. Is
that
understood, Perrin?”

Perrin took a deep breath, accentuating his broad chest. Impla
usibly, even the white bunny fur stitched into butterflies appeared threatening. “You do something stupid, Neeks,
you’ll
have to explain why to my wife and my daughter. Tell them why they are now vulnerable. Is
that
understood?”

Neeks didn’t flinch. “Don’t do anything stupid then, Captain.”

Shin pulled the fur-trimmed hood over his knitted cap. “Do I
look
like I’m about to do something stupid?”

Karna couldn’t hold in the
pfft!
“Are you expecting an honest answer for that, sir?”

“Not really,” Shin said, almost smiling. “Now remember, tell the men I’m still point commander, but I’m at a hidden location in order to observe without interfering. Any questions from the soldiers will be funneled directly to you two,” he said pointing to Karna and Neeks, “with the understanding that I will receive the message only from either one of you. The moment I see or hear anything, I’ll sound the signal, and you call for defensive positions. Gizzada, you’re in charge here at the fort.”

“We know, we know,” Lieutenant Karna said impatiently. “Let’s get this over with.”

“That’s the problem,” Neeks mumbled. “We may be doing this nonsense for weeks.”

“I don’t know why you’re still complaining, Grandpy,” Shin glared at Neeks. “
I’m
the one wearing a woman’s fur coat to go on a midnight picnic in the middle of the forest during Raining Season.”

---

Mahrree didn’t even hear him come into the bedroom. When she opened her eyes, there he stood hovering over her. All she could do was whimper.