The Falcon in the Barn (Book 4 Forest at the Edge series) (67 page)

Genev squinted. “Yes, I’ve heard that before.
But Querul had those guards executed—”

Mal chuckled in appreciation. “Yes, that’s
what he told the world. He feigned fury that his guards killed the
revered guide, the man that was to find new homes for those still
troubling the world with violence. But the only one who troubled
Querul at that time was old Pax. Querul paid off those guards quite
handsomely for a job well done, and they each left Idumea with new
names and identities.”

“
But . . . but thousands
still tried to leave Idumea and the world,” Genev said, struggling
to reconcile what he thought he knew with what he knew
now.

Education can so easily unseat one’s
confidence about the truth of the world, Mal noted privately.
Obviously he’d been doing it right all these years.

“
Yes, some people tried to
run away,” Mal nodded. “They were either loyal to Pax, or were
still trying to disrupt the harmony Querul was creating. He let
them go for a time, watching where they ran as they left for the
forests. Querul turned that to his favor: in essence,
he
created the first Guarders. As people fled he quietly sent his
soldiers to slaughter them. But publicly, Querul let the world
believe most of them escaped and that they continued to torment the
world out of vengeance.”

“
So were there any that
actually made it to the forests?”

Mal shrugged. “Querul thought so, but how
could they survive in such a hostile environment? He doubted any
made it for long. In my twenty years of doing this, none of my men
have reported seeing anyone else.”

“
And just how reliable are
your men, sir?” Genev ventured.

“
Reliable enough,” Mal
insisted.

Genev nodded once back. “Remarkable. I never
realized how shrewd Querul the First was.”

“
Nor did I, until I found
the crate,” Mal agreed. “Then I was wise enough to burn all of his
writings so no one else would ever know. Rather made me sad,” he
said wistfully. “Makes me wonder if my successor will do the same
to all of my research, that no one would ever know the extent of my
intellect . . . I suppose I should just never die,
then.”

Genev started to smile, until he realized Mal
was serious.

“
Genev,” the Chairman said
with a faraway look in his eyes, “I think I know who sent that
map.”

“
Who, sir?”

“
Someone who had access to
it, before the fire. Querul stored many of the records here in the
mansion, then moved them to the old garrison. Twice the documents
and maps had to be moved. And who do you think may have helped in
that?”

Genev shrugged.

“
The servants.”

“
Oh, sir, where are they
now?”

Mal sighed. “Never been able to find out.
They were in this mansion for nearly fifty years. Three
generations, thirty-three people in all, by the time of Querul the
Fourth.”

“
The Stupid,” interjected
Genev.

“
Indeed. The Fourth was
convinced by new High General Pere Shin that the servants had been
contacted by the Guarders and were plotting against his family. So
Querul released them and Shin relocated them somewhere in the east,
maybe Coast or Winds. That Shin didn’t keep very good records,” Mal
added in irritation, “and my examination of all the garrison files
didn’t reveal much, except that he arranged for some people to
teach them the ways of the world. The pathetic servants didn’t even
know how to read! If they had any brains at all they changed their
names and left for other villages. They’d be untrackable by now.
All of them are likely dead, but if one of them saw Terryp’s map so
many years ago, and stole it—”

“—
maybe it was kept in
their family all this time,” Genev suggested, “handed down from
parent to child, waiting for the opportune moment to reveal
it.”

Mal nodded. “Such as at a time like this,
when the world becomes hungry for land and wants to escape the safe
compound in which they’ve thrived for so many years.”

“
What really would be the
problem with letting perhaps 10 percent of the population leave?”
Genev wondered. “It would give everyone the room they’re wanting,
fighting would go down—”

Mal stared at him. “I heard you’ve made a
great deal of renovations to your new mansion.”

Genev frowned at the abrupt change of topic,
but went along with it. “Gadiman used only a small section of the
servants’ quarters. He didn’t open the doors to the north wing for
years! I’ve had to hire a dozen more laborers to restore and
maintain it—”

“
And how is all of that
work being paid for?” Mal said.

Genev faltered for a moment. “I thought . . .
I thought it was covered in the Administrator Needs clause of my
contract.”

“
It is. Now, my dear
Administrator, where do the funds come from? Our needs are very
great, because we in the government give so much to the world that
the world needs to give back to us even more.”

“
Uh . . . taxation?” Genev
ventured.

“
Yes, and if our revenue
goes down by 10 percent because that many citizens leave, there
also go all of your renovations, along with your pay increase and
your eight weeks of paid leave—”

“
We have to re-contain the
world!” Genev burst out. “We can’t afford to lose
anyone!”

Mal noticed it frequently took Administrators
some time to realized that taxes—
their income
—actually came
from real, everyday people. As senseless and bothersome as they
usually were, the government really did
need
its
citizenry.

“
Yes,” Mal intoned, “I
believe I made the point for containment some time ago. That’s why
we’re not going to ignore this map, Administrator. That’s why we’re
sending out our own expedition. We’ll only have to remind the world
about the dangers of Terryp’s land and even those in my generation
will shrink back in fear.”

“
So when the expedition
returns with new findings . . .?”

“
They’ll be influenced by
the Administrators over Culture and Science who, while not knowing
nearly as much as you and me, do understand the need for
containment, and those findings will be of such a nature that we
should be able to keep the world confined here for another 137
years.” Mal clasped his hands on his lap.

Genev shook his head in admiration.
“Absolutely stunning! Here I was thinking this would be disastrous,
but no . . .” His eyes lit up with a new idea. “Chairman, so
much
could come from something like this. Kill two falcons
with one cat?”

Mal frowned. “Just what are you getting at,
Genev?”

“
You brought me here to
deal with another problem, did you not? I’ve spent several weeks
reading all about a certain colonel in the northernmost edge of the
world.”

Mal couldn’t help but lick his lips. “How
will Perrin play into this?”

Genev chuckled in his indefinable way. “Years
ago he annoyed you, remember? Back in Command School he even
challenged you in front of the entire class insisting that your
definition of a person as an animal was wrong.”

“
He did,” Mal said
steadily, waiting for the rest.

“
I read your notes from
that time. Shin declared that the Creator made men and women higher
than animals, and because of that they are capable of looking evil
in the eye and facing it.”

Mal made a fist. “And?”

“
Sir, hasn’t he done
precisely that?”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
All I mean is, Shin
recovered
. Where so many other men perished, according to
Dr. Brisack’s findings, Shin overcame his trauma. And then he went
on to organize the northern armies and completely wipe out the
Guarders.”

“
Not completely,” Mal
whispered. “I’m sure there are still a few
communicators—”

“
Who have sent how many
communications in the past year?”

“
None,” Mal confessed. “But
we still have one very persistent general.”

Genev nodded, partially in sympathy. “We can
begin to build the Guarders back up again, sir. From your notes, it
seems it takes about a year and a half to recruit and train as many
as we would need—”

“
Yes, yes,” Mal groaned.
“And we will, we will. As soon as this issue with Terryp’s map is
resolved,” he reminded. “And Shin?”

“
Sir, it’s been my
experience that people gain a great deal of comfort from that which
they believe in. They even imagine they receive some kind of power
from it. I interrogated a woman not long ago who clutched a
zucchini she believed talked to her.”

“
Obviously she was
delusional.”

“
I agree,” Genev said. “All
of us, to some extent, are delusional in what we believe. You and
I, only very slightly. My zucchini woman, quite heavily. And those
who believe in the Creator?”

“
The most delusional of
all,” Mal said, his tone developing a lighter quality. “Which would
make Shin—”

“
We can’t prove he’s
insane,” Genev said, reining in the Chairman’s eagerness. “But what
would
compromise him is if he recognized that delusional
quality all by himself. If he’s presented with evidence that runs
contrary to all he’s ever believed—”

Mal looked up at the ceiling. “YES! He’d
destroy himself!”

Genev smiled. “And many others. More than
once his soldiers have reported hearing him mention the Creator. I
received a report that he even told them at Moorland that the
Creator was ‘pleased’ with their efforts there.”

Mal closed his eyes and chuckled. “Oh, was I
correct in choosing you! That’s precisely what I’ve needed—new
ideas to torment Perrin Shin. We don’t even need Guarders!”

“
Oh, sir—but we do,” Genev
said earnestly. “We must begin recruiting as soon as possible.
Within a year and half we’ll need them.”

Mal narrowed his eyes. “And why is that?”

“
What’s the point of an
army if there’s no one to fight? Wasn’t that one of your early
personal essays?”

“
Just how much reading of
my works have you done, Administrator?”

Genev shrugged. “All of it?”

Mal raised his eyebrows. “I don’t know
whether to be flattered or suspicious.”

“
I believe it’s good to be
a little of both,” Genev suggested.

“
So what will we do with
Guarders if Perrin Shin is already a broken man?”

“
We’ll break him—and
another—even more. We can’t assume Shin will be completely
devastated to realize the Creator was nothing more than someone’s
imagination. We need to have another plan to continue his
destruction.”

Mal clasped his hands together again. “So
tell me: how will you devastate him,
and another
?”

His new colleague smiled primly. “Has there
ever been a High General who made it to retirement age?”

“
No, and I have a feeling
you’re about to suggest the current one won’t make it
either.”

The Administrator of Loyalty held out his
hands. “It’s just that you are getting on in years, and I’d hate
for you to have to wait an
unnaturally
long time to continue
your observations. Especially when the High General has such an
eager and well-trained Advisor. Cush is already failing. His
ultimate demise could be subtle and appear natural, by Thorne’s
hands.”

Mal’s eyebrows rose. “My, my that
is
progressive. Then he’ll have the High General position for his
efforts, I assume?”

Genev smiled and folded his arms. “Qayin will
think
all of his efforts are for one purpose, but that’s
when the long lost son will make his return.”

“
As much as I would love to
see Thorne
not
receive the position, I’m not sure that you
understand,” said the Chairman carefully, “how involved Qayin is.
There have been promises made—”

“
Oh, I do understand. I’ve
done all the reading, remember?” said Genev. “One of your earliest
studies was ‘Discomfort breeds growth.’ I’d like to witness that.
So we’ll create ‘discomfort.’ Qayin Thorne seems far too eager to
call the shots, and far less willing to follow the orders. This
isn’t his experiment now, is it? We’ll help him remember that fact.
Despite all of his efforts and assistance, he’s merely a player,
isn’t that so?”

Mal chuckled. “I’d love to see General Thorne
to do some ‘growing’ as well. But consider this—there’s the
possibility Shin may turn down the appointment to High General.
He’s never been fond of Idumea.”

“
Oh, he’ll come all right,”
Genev said confidently. “Because I suspect he’d follow his wife to
the ends of the world, or in this case, to the
very center
of it.”

“
His wife?” said Mal,
surprised. “How will she play into this?”

“
Gadiman left an enormous
amount of files brimming with allegations and suspicions. The
thickest file of all belongs to a Mrs. Mahrree Peto Shin. All
that’s needed is a few more pages, and
Administrator Genev
,”
he said smugly, “can require her to come to Idumea to make a full
accounting of her years of sedition.”

The Chairman let out a low whistle. “I’ve
seen that file. She’s never done anything more than say a few
things and write a few letters, unfortunately. The rest was
Gadiman’s paranoid suppositions. Not enough to twist into full
sedition. And we don’t have laws against someone’s words and
ideas.”