The Falcon in the Barn (Book 4 Forest at the Edge series) (30 page)

“
Thorne,” Yordin leaned
across the table. “You obviously can memorize and remember
everything. But boy, you’re inexperienced. Out here you learn to
think on your feet. There isn’t a ‘prescribed method’ for every
situation. If I wrote to your grandfather for approval of every
decision, nothing would ever get done. As commander, I am in
command. If the High General doesn’t like my decisions, he’s
welcome to tell me himself. I like Colonel Shin’s idea. It makes
sense. No, it’s not standard procedure, but these aren’t standard
times.” He leaned back in his chair. “Do you know why I became an
officer?”

“
No, sir,” Thorne said, his
jaw set.

“
Years ago—now, mind you,
I’m not as old as Old Colonel Shin here,” Yordin smirked. “I’m only
forty-two. But when I was a boy, my grandfather and grandmother
disappeared.”

“
Really?” Perrin had never
heard about that.

Yordin nodded to him before turning back to
Thorne. “First my grandfather, then the next day my grandmother. My
father didn’t know why or how. There was no forced entry into the
house, no bloodshed, and no sign of them suddenly deciding to move
and not telling anyone—which wouldn’t have been in their nature
anyway. A few unimportant papers were gone, but nothing else. My
father called for the chief of enforcement the night my grandfather
went missing. He and several enforcers scoured the village looking
for clues. My grandmother sat distraught in the house with my
mother. I remember her crying, and late into the night my mother
fell asleep on their sofa. I was groggy and leaning against her
when I felt someone kiss my forehead. I opened my eyes and in the
dim light I saw my grandmother. That was the last time anyone saw
her. The next morning she was gone as well.”

Thorne had the decency to seem disturbed.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Major. But sir, people go missing every
year. It’s not our domain. That’s always been the responsibility of
the enforcers.”

“
True,” conceded Yordin.
“And my father had little faith in the enforcers of Vines. After
only one day they gave up, said they had nothing to go on. My
father went all the way to Idumea looking for someone to help, and
he found someone willing to listen: High General Pere
Shin.”

Perrin studied his hands and gave them a
small smile.

Yordin continued. “General Shin had heard of
other people missing as well. He had done some investigating on his
own and had a theory that he shared only with my father:
Guarders.”

Perrin’s head snapped up, his eyebrows
furrowed in surprise. His hands came apart as he said, “What?”

Major Yordin nodded. “This was still the time
of the kings, you realize,” he said again to Thorne, who looked
very interested. “At the time, some suspected King Querul the Third
actually controlled the Guarders, or at least a small portion of
them. It’s handy to have a secretive society doing your dirty work
for you, such as assassinating those who speak out against you.
General Shin couldn’t make his suspicions known or he would’ve been
the next victim.” Yordin shifted his gaze to Perrin. “I’m sorry,
Colonel. I’ve never told anyone this before. But now it seems
imperative.”

Perrin nodded his agreement. “My father said
the kings used a secret group of assassins. King Oren, not so much.
When the Administrators took over, Relf thought he’d identified and
eliminated the last of them that were still around. But I’m not
sure he even knew of Pere’s suspicions, that Guarders might be
abducting people?
Over a hundred years ago, yes, that
happened, but thirty years ago? He never said anything about that
to me.”

“
I’m sure your father
didn’t know,” Yordin told him. “When your grandfather died the next
year, and Relf replaced him, all communication with my father
stopped.”

“
I’m sorry, Gari. Pere was
a sloppy record keeper. I think that’s why Relf was so obsessive
about his paperwork. He must’ve suspected information had been lost
when Pere died so suddenly—.” Perrin didn’t finish, but went back
to studying his hands.

“
But Major Yordin,” Thorne
said, “what would Guarders want with an old man and an old
woman?”

Yordin scoffed. “They weren’t
old
,
Thorne! At least, I don’t consider fifty-four and fifty-five as
‘old’. Not since I turned forty,” he admitted. “But you ask a
legitimate question. Why’d they take them? I’m not sure. I would’ve
thought they weren’t taken at all but met with some kind of
accident instead, if it weren’t for the fact that they went at
different times. My grandmother knew something that she didn’t tell
us, and I think she was kissing me goodbye because she knew her
fate. That’s what’s troubled me all these years. That’s why I
eventually chose a career that would allow me to make sure nothing
like this ever happened again.”

Fadh had been very quiet, listening.
“Yordin,” he started tentatively, “a family from Quake went missing
about four weeks ago. A father, mother, and two little boys. No
sign of forced entry.”

Yordin went wooden.

“
People go missing all the
time, Major,” Captain Thorne reminded him. “Maybe a hundred every
year. The ones recovered had been kidnapped by past lovers or by
angry land owners looking for back rent. That’s not our domain.
Maybe they went for a walk and fell through the crust of a steam
vent, or fell in a river and drowned. Little boys can’t swim. They
could’ve been washed away—”

“
Enough!” Perrin barked,
noticing Yordin’s still frozen face.

Thorne shut his mouth, frustrated.

Fadh ignored the captain. “Yordin, do you
remember any details about your grandparents’ disappearance?”

Yordin shook his head. “I was just eleven
years old. So often I wished I had asked my parents about it, but I
never did before they passed away.”

Shem cleared his throat. “Sirs, I wonder what
would be the purpose in taking a family with two small boys?”

Fadh shifted in his seat before answering. “I
must confess, Zenos, the idea that the family was
taken
occurred to me a while ago. I have nothing to go on but a hunch.
But usually my hunches are correct. Consider, Master Sergeant, that
if the Guarders are losing ranks—and since they were quiet for many
years, that’s a fair assumption—what better way to increase those
ranks than by forced conscription?
Kidnap
new recruits.”

Shem groaned. “In a few years, those two
little boys would be fully indoctrinated to fight for the
Guarders.”

“
That’s brilliant!” Beneff
said, shaking his head. “Because if the leather rips,
ho-HO!”

The officers ignored that.

“
But why take the parents?”
Perrin wondered aloud, a terrible idea forming in his
mind.

Fadh shrugged. “Maybe to get to the boys?
Maybe they don’t even keep the parents once they have them.” He
cringed as he considered the same conclusion Perrin had drawn.

Brillen blinked with a new idea. “They might
be in Moorland—”

Yordin clapped his hand on the table. “That’s
why the houses in Moorland! To raise a new fighting force! Shin,
they’re
growing
a new force!”

Fadh leaped to his feet. “Colonel—those
little boys . . . we can’t attack children!”

“
Majors, Majors,” Perrin
raised his hands. “Calm down. We’ve established nothing. We don’t
even know
why
that family vanished. Fadh, who headed the
investigation to their disappearance?”

“
The chief of enforcement,
but I assisted,” he said, slowly sitting down again. “My wife knew
them. Even though we can’t have them, she loves children. They
moved to our neighborhood a season ago and my wife would sneak the
boys sweets when they walked past. She was very distressed by their
disappearance.” Fadh sighed, his eyes clouding. “We found nothing
at all. She’s still searching when she can.”

“
How old were the boys?”
Perrin asked, as gently as he could.

“
Four and two,
almost.”

Shem groaned again. “Just babies.”

“
I’m telling you, it’s
brilliant!” Beneff said. “The bears may break berries, but hee-hee.
Get them while they’re young—”

“
Beneff!” Karna said,
noticing that Fadh’s color had been fading. “Enough,
please
.”

Beneff raised his hands, but his face still
reflected appreciation.

“
Gentlemen,” Perrin said,
“do we have access to records about how many people have
disappeared over the years? Honestly, Yordin, Fadh, I think we’re
chasing after nothing here but I’m intrigued. Maybe there’s a
connection. Why
are
the Guarders in houses after all these
years? It’s worth looking into.”

Karna shrugged. “We can contact all of the
chiefs of enforcement around the world and ask them for numbers. I
have a feeling they don’t keep very good records about their
failures, though.”

“
Probably true,” Perrin
said. “But let’s see what we can find.”

“
After all,” Beneff began
again, “all water runs downhill.”

In the perplexed silence that followed that
wholly accurate but still contextually odd comment from Beneff, a
sergeant in the back whispered, “While I understood that one, I
still don’t get it.”

“
Colonel,” the young, slow
captain piped up again, “I’m afraid I still don’t understand why
the Guarders, if it
were
Guarders, would want to take Major
Yordin’s grandparents.” Thorne turned to him. “I realize the
fifties aren’t that old. My parents would agree with you there,” he
offered a small smile.

Yordin didn’t accept it.

“
But of what value would
they be?” Thorne continued. “Not everyone is as in excellent
fighting shape as my father or you gentlemen. Or would be, when you
are that age.” His little speech was rapidly growing
lame.

Perrin smirked at Thorne’s clumsy attempt at
diplomacy. He
was
trying, in so many ways.

“
The captain has a point,”
he said reluctantly to the room. “But maybe they weren’t looking
for soldiers. What did your grandfather do for a living,
Gari?”

Yordin’s broad forehead wrinkled in thought.
“He was a scientist. He worked for a time at the university in
Idumea before moving to Vines. He was doing something with . . .”
The major tugged on his ear until his eyes lit up. “Metallurgy!
That was it!” Slap. “He was experimenting with different kinds of
alloys. I remember all kinds of shiny samples in his study.”

Thorne tried not to scoff, but it came out
anyway. “What good is that to Guarders?”

“
Strength of metal,” Perrin
said evenly. “The better the alloy, the stronger the sword. Or
dagger
.”

Yordin nodded. “He was working on swords for
Querul the Fourth.” He closed his eyes. “Maybe that’s what they
were after: better weapons.”

“
But why take his wife?”
Thorne pressed.

Yordin looked at Shin for ideas.

Perrin had one that he grudgingly shared.
“What better way to coerce a man to work than to threaten what’s
most precious to him? I’m sorry, Gari.”

Yordin closed his eyes again, and his hand
rose to pinch the bridge of his nose. Shem put a consoling hand on
his back.

The major released his nose and smiled feebly
at the men, but his eyes were fierce. “Colonel Shin, you tell me
the day and time, and I’ll be there with every man I have. Let’s
eliminate them now!” He slapped the table.

“
I appreciate your zeal,
Major. But let’s do a little more investigating first,” Perrin
suggested. “All we’ve tossed around this morning are speculation
and ideas. Let’s spend a few days trying to find out who has
disappeared in the last few years, and what evidence they left
behind, or didn’t.”

Brillen shifted in agitation. “But if we wait
too long, the Guarders may attack us first.”

“
I know, Karna, I know,”
Perrin assured him. “That’s why I recommend we spend only a few
days gathering evidence, and no more. We’ll stay in contact until
we have more information to go on. The idea that children are being
housed is a long shot, but if there
are
children—and I don’t
care whose they are, ours or the Guarders—we will not harm them.
Unlike the Guarders, we don’t harm innocents. Is that
understood?”

“
Understood and
appreciated,” Fadh answered.

Yordin shook his head. “How innocent would
those children still be, Shin? You and I both have sons. I’d rather
my son die than ever have sympathy for the Guarders.”

Shem flinched and turned to Yordin. “Major,
certainly you don’t believe that.
Your own son?
”

Yordin glanced at him before saying to
Perrin, “Would you want your son on the wrong side, Colonel?”

“
No, Yordin, I wouldn’t,”
he said heavily. “But I honestly don’t know how I’d react if I
found my boy with my enemy. I’ve never considered the
possibility.”

Shem leaned across the table toward Perrin.
“You don’t know? I do! You’d rescue him! You’d drag him out of
there! Whatever dark corner of the cold wasteland they convinced
him to reside in, you’d crawl into and retrieve him!”

The entire table of men was silenced by Shem,
now on his feet in earnestness to make his point as he stared at
Perrin.

Perrin, startled, stared back.

Yordin’s voice broke the silence. “Zenos, are
you a father?”

Shem, his chest heaving, answered with his
eyes still on his friend. “No. Not yet. But I feel like one.”