The Falcon in the Barn (Book 4 Forest at the Edge series) (58 page)

“
What are you going to
do?”

“
Magistrate Wibble has been
eager to do something in public ever since the memorial service in
Planting Season. He wants to lead? Then he’s going to lead this
village!”

“
Lead them the way
you
think they should be lead?” Mahrree guessed.

“
Well, of course. Tomorrow
night no entertainments but a mandatory meeting. This ‘reallocation
of goods’ ends now!”

Chapter 22
~
“You aren’t
people, you’re vultures!”

I
t was the
1
^st
Day of Harvest 336 when Perrin sat on the platform
again. It had been nearly five moons since he was there for the
memorial service when it seemed the entire world chanted “General
Shin.”

But tonight there was a different feel in the
amphitheater, much like the times he’d caught a thieving boy,
forced him into a chair, and set in to yelling at him about his
duty and responsibility to the world. It never worked. The boys
would glare up at him with hardened eyes. Perrin had always been
amazed that so few parents were upset with their children’s
thieving, but now he understood why as he stared at Edge.

The majority of Edge stared back at him,
suspecting that he was about to ruin their fun and profit.

It didn’t help matters much that Wibble was
completely massacring the very carefully worded speech Perrin had
prepared for him. How in the world did Wibble become magistrate
anyway?

In the
most
accommodating way possible
Wibble was trying to
suggest
to Edgers that
perhaps
the residents should consider the feelings of the relatives that
may still be around, and that
maybe
messages could be sent
to all parts of the world looking for relatives, and
then
,
if
no one responded, then
perhaps
auctions could be
held, or
maybe
even some of the properties
donated
to
less fortunate families, or to some of the refugees from Moorland
who still didn’t have places of their own . . .

That’s when the crowd grew ugly. Perrin could
feel the tension growing in the amphitheater and wished he’d had
more than fifty soldiers stationed for security. Many in the
audience rose to their feet, shouting.

“
Wibble, are you telling us
we don’t deserve what we get?”

“
Why should I give up
something I’ve worked for?”

“
Moorland survivors? Just
how much longer are we supposed to tolerate them? Let them go
somewhere else!”

“
This is
unfair!”

Colonel Shin had tried to stay squarely in
his seat like an appropriate authority, but his shock at their
reaction wouldn’t let him. He shifted in his chair, trying not to
leap to his feet.

His plan was perfectly reasonable. That
Wibble presented it so ineptly certainly didn’t help the mood of
the crowd, which was more ravenous than Perrin anticipated. The
magistrate cowered under the weight of all the protests, sent a
look of appeal to Colonel Shin, and Perrin was on his feet in an
instant.

If he worried about another General Shin
rally erupting, he didn’t need to. While most of the villagers
silenced and sat down at the sight of the colonel, several men
continued to stand, their arms folded in challenge.

Perrin waited ten long, agonizing seconds
before speaking. “Almost a year and a half ago I saw this village
pool together all their resources to save each others’ lives. Each
of your homes, barns and shops were damaged. Each of your families
faced food shortages. But each of you made sure no one suffered. We
all lost weight last year, but as I look around I don’t see anyone
starving today.”

A few snickers rippled through the crowd as
Colonel Shin’s eyes paused on rotund Mr. Trum. He was one of the
few who continued to stand, his folded arms resting on his great
belly. He likely had many plans that Colonel Shin just may see fit
to destroy, and he wasn’t about to let that happen.

“
Just this morning I read a
report about how much property had been ‘acquired’ during the past
few nights. I’m sure those things weren’t taken by our
precious
sons
, which leads me to believe that someone else is picking up
where the boys and the Guarders have left off!”

A few people squirmed in their seats, but not
as many seemed to feel as guilty as the colonel had hoped.

“
I have also read a report
about how many lands, houses, and shops have been snatched from the
dead!” His voice boomed across the amphitheater.

A couple of the standing men sat down. A few
still remained, including Trum.

Perrin took a few deep breaths to regain his
composure. “I can’t help but wonder, why? Our crops will be
excellent this year. We’ll have more than we expected to store. The
herds have rebounded, trade’s come back, the shops are rebuilt, and
people are buying goods. We have no more threat of attack from the
Guarders, thievery is down, or it
was
—” an irritated edge
entered to his tone. He shook his head in disappointment. “I’ve
lived here for seventeen years now, and I’d predict that this will
be one of our most prosperous years. Yet that’s not good enough for
you.”

A small smile emerged above the multiple
chins of Mr. Trum. “Colonel!” he called out. “It
is
a
prosperous year and getting better. Why let others’ properties go
to waste?”

“
I’m not suggesting they go
to waste, Trum. I’m suggesting we distribute them more fairly, more
equitably,” Perrin clarified. “Many in Edge are struggling to get
by. Not everyone’s well off. This is an excellent opportunity to
balance some of that. I’m suggesting giving the properties—once we
have no relatives wanting to claim them—to those in greatest
need.”

Another man stood up. “My two daughters just
spent their entire Weeding Season break taking care of our
neighbors’ farm. Now you’re telling me we’re not entitled to it?
After all their labor?”

Perrin squinted at him. “Two laborers for
three weeks’ time? Those wages wouldn’t be near enough to purchase
any
land. I had no idea property values had plummeted so
drastically.”

Nervous chuckles scattered through the
amphitheater.

But the man wasn’t finished. “We buried the
family, too!”

“
Then took their animals as
thanks?”

A woman in another part of the amphitheater,
petite yet livid, stood up and pointed at the man. “You know full
well that hog was supposed to go to us!
She
had wanted me to
have it!”

The first man pointed at her. “The hog? What
had you ever done to deserve that hog?
He
told me how he
bought it, raised it, fed it—

He was my friend, and his hog belongs to
me!”

“
You have three hogs
already!” the woman shrieked. “We have only two! The colonel says
it’s be to fair, and that isn’t fair!”

Before Perrin could explain that wasn’t what
he meant at all, the first man’s wife stood up, her face red with
rage. “You
sow
!” she bellowed at the petite woman.

Perrin recoiled. The only “sows” he knew of
were questionable women that hung around the northeast entrance of
the fort. Never had he heard that word used
that way
in
mixed company, and certainly not out of the mouth of the cobbler’s
wife.

The hog-wanting woman’s husband now joined
his wife and pointed at the first man. “Put a muzzle on your own
sow and give us back our hog like the colonel ordered!”

Perrin staggered, but no one noticed. It was
the makings of a fight, and no Edger wanted to miss out on it as
the amphitheater erupted in an explosion of noise and shouting.

Perrin threw up his hands in disgust but the
only one who saw him was Mahrree on the front bench, her head
slowly shaking in amazement. On either side of her Jaytsy and Peto
stared, stunned.

Magistrate Wibble, who’d been wringing his
hands, turned to the colonel in desperation. Wibble was all about
cooperation
, as his campaign speeches declared, and—like all
good politicians—he didn’t have the first idea of how to establish
that.

The colonel sighed and did the only thing he
knew how to deal with out-of-control people. He drew Relf’s
sword.

He had intended to bang it on the wooden
platform to draw everyone’s attention and have the smith fix the
damage to the tip later. But the movement of his arm and the
clanging of the sword as it left the sheath was an ominous enough
noise that everyone noticed it.

A terrified hush filled the area and everyone
sat down, trying to look like as small a target as possible. Even
Trum shrank on his bench, reducing him to the size of only two
men.

Perrin was tempted to replace the sword in
his sheath, but the effect was too powerful to dismiss. Perhaps it
was good that the village, while loyal and grateful, had also been
terrified of him.

“
Enough!” he
roared.

The crowd surrounding him inched back even
more.

“
What’s happened to you?
All of you? You just buried your friends and now you’re fighting
over their possessions? You aren’t people, you’re vultures! Did
they die fast enough for you?”

“
Colonel!” Mr. Trum was on
his feet again, a brave act for such a large target. “Colonel,” he
said more calmly, with a touch of nervousness as the colonel firmed
his grip on the sword’s hilt. “No one’s trying to take away the
significance of their deaths. We’ve all lost friends, and even some
family. But they’d want us to continue, don’t you think? They’d
want others to have access to all they had. We’ve suffered greatly
this year and a half. We could share stories about it all evening!
This is a way of giving some of that back.”

“
Giving
?” Perrin
scoffed. “Who’s doing the giving? No one. You’re just
taking
! The Creator expects more from you.”

Mr. Trum rolled his eyes and held out his
hand dramatically. “Colonel, Colonel, with all due respect—”

Perrin braced for anything. When someone
begins,
With all due respect
, it meant no respect was about
to follow.

“—
as much as I appreciate
that we have a leader that still thinks about the Creator, how can
you be sure this is what He expects? Maybe this is His payment to
us for making us suffer?”

Perrin wished he was closer to Trum. He was
sure the man couldn’t feel the full fury of his gaze from the
middle of the amphitheater. “You really think, Trum, that the
Creator’s going to
kill off
part of our population so you
can have more? You have the largest fields around, the biggest
herds, and now I understand you’re taking over your neighbor’s
tannery? Quite a corner on the leather market you’ll have, won’t
you? You haven’t suffered at all, Trum, for all the years I’ve
known you. Why do you deserve more?”

Trum was unmoved. “Colonel, Colonel,” he said
in a sickly sweet tone. “Where did Nature’s Laws come from?”

Perrin wasn’t expecting that odd question. He
squinted. “The Creator.”

“
And, dear Colonel,” the
syrupy tone continued, “why did only certain families die? I have a
theory: Nature’s Laws.”

“
Nature’s Laws,” Perrin
repeated dubiously.

“
Nature eliminates those
who are not as fit or capable of life. Entire families died because
Nature no longer had room for them,” Trum reasoned. “And if the
Creator made those laws, then the Creator must have willed them to
die, so that we can have their goods. We are those that are
stronger and fitter for this world. I’m sorry there are those who
have less, but we must consider, Colonel, that Nature doesn’t
prefer them, either. Perhaps their poverty is Nature’s way of
eliminating them, too.”

“
Perhaps their poverty is
the result of others’ greed and selfishness,” Perrin
countered.

Trum remained unmoved, the insinuation
bouncing off his belly.

Bewildered that Trum couldn’t see his part in
any of this, Perrin continued. “With that reasoning, then you could
argue that the land tremor was Nature’s way of eliminating
all
of Edge. That’s what Nicko Mal thought; he was ready to
let this village die like Moorland. But if Nature wanted all of
Edge eliminated, then why are you still here?”

“
Because of you,
dear
Colonel
!” Trum simpered sarcastically as he spread open his
arms. “That’s what you want to hear, isn’t it? Edge is here because
of your rescue?”

Perrin didn’t move a muscle, except for a
small one near the back of his jaw.

No one else dared move either. The crowd
shifted their gaze nervously from Shin to Trum to Shin again—and to
his sword—waiting for a response.

But Perrin was too incensed to trust anything
that would come out of his mouth at that moment.

Trum folded his arms defiantly again. “Well
Colonel, not all of us would have perished. Some of us have more
ability than others to survive. Perhaps you saved those who Nature
didn’t want saved at all, so Nature came back in the form of the
pox to claim those that were too weak. Nature always wins.”

Perrin took a step toward the edge of the
platform. “You have ‘more ability’ to survive Nature’s attacks? If
Nature sent a bear to chase after the two of us, I’ll give you one
guess which of us ‘Nature’ would devour, Trum!”

Trum squirmed. The small movement was
accentuated through his layers, causing a rippling affect that
normally would have been quite humorous. But no one in the
amphitheater saw anything amusing about the first debate that
platform had seen in over a decade.