The Forest at the Edge of the World (51 page)

From several paces away the surgeon, Karna, and Neeks watched the two of them talking quietly. The men looked away when they kissed again.

“Guess there are one or two reasons to get married,” Grandpy said, gruffly clearing his throat and holding his own bandaged arm.

Mahrree turned and noticed the audience behind her. She blushed and pushed herself to stand up. All three men rushed over, but she was on her feet before they got there.

“You all right, Mrs. Shin?” the surgeon asked with unusual ge
ntleness.

“Yes, I’m doing well this morning, thank you. When did you say we can bring him home?”

“After midday meal. He needs to rest and get a little stronger so he can help us help him. I’ve given him some tea so he’ll sleep for a few hours.”

Mahrree nodded. “I’ll go home and get things ready. Probably shouldn’t be going upstairs to bed, should he?”

The surgeon shook his head. “Give him a night or two on your main level, then we’ll see how he’s feeling.”

Staff Sergeant Gizzada came in to the surgery and gave a mea
ningful look to the three other men. All of the white-now-stained-red clothing was being burned, destroying the evidence. He put his finger to his lips when he saw the exhausted captain drifting off to sleep. “Just checking on him,” he whispered.

“He’ll be fine in a few days,” the surgeon said. “I’ll get the notes, Mrs. Shin. I’ll also be by this evening to evaluate him.”

“Thank you,” Mahrree smiled as the surgeon started for his desk. “Well, I suppose I should take his uniform jacket and overcoat with me. Doesn’t look like he’ll be wearing them home today.”

“I’ll walk you home when you’re ready, Mrs. Shin,” Karna told her.

“And I’ll get the uniform, ma’am,” Gizzada nodded.

He walked to where the folded blue overcoat and jacket sat on a chair, and carried them over to Mahrree and Karna. The lieutenant took the bundle from him as Neeks tipped his cap good-bye and started for the door of the surgery.

“I should see if the damage is repairable or not,” Mahrree murmured, lifting the overcoat from off the top. “After it’s soaked for a few hours.”

All four men stopped suddenly.

Karna turned abruptly to Mahrree. “
Repairable?
”

Neeks stopped at the door and slowly pivoted.

The surgeon at his desk looked up sharply.

Gizzada’s
eyes doubled in size.

“Yes, his overcoat and jacket,” she said, letting the overcoat u
nfold from her hands. “Not that I’m much of a seamstress, but my mother . . .”

The four men looked desperately at one another, but it was a
lready too late.

Mahrree had turned the overcoat to look at the red-soaked gash she anticipated seeing there. She held it up in front of her face while the surgeon, Neeks, Karna, and Gizzada held their breaths, waiting for her response to the overcoat in pristine condition.

Slowly she lowered the coat and looked at the four men, her face completely ashen. “He wasn’t wearing his uniform,
was he?
”

The men looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

Captain Shin snored softly.

“There was no tree branch either,
was there?
”

Karna shifted his feet, Neeks swallowed hard, the surgeon cleared his throat, and Gizzada licked his lips.

“And he doesn’t want me to know why, either.
Does he?
”

That, the men could answer. They all shook their heads ever so slightly.

Mahrree closed her eyes and clutched the overcoat to her chest. “Thank you for taking care of him. And me.”

“Happy to do it, ma’am,” Karna whispered.

-
--

“But Perrin, are you absolutely sure you only stabbed him in the cheek?”

Hogal whispered, not worried that Mahrree would hear him—she was in the kitchen with Hycymum and Tabbit cooking a big di
nner—but because Jaytsy was snuggled up against her father, napping soundly. She and Perrin lay on the large down and straw mattress, placed in front of the hearth in the gathering room by the soldiers that helped bring Perrin home. The sofa and stuffed chairs were pushed to the sides to make room for the bed. Hogal sat on a pillow next to Perrin who spent the day—and would spend many more nights—shirtless and on his belly with his back exposed.

Hogal removed the last of the cotton and winced at the stitched bloody gash. In a few minutes they would be packing snow over his wound again.

“Hogal, I’ve run it over and over in my mind.” Perrin rested his chin on his hand and gazed into the fire. “That earlier incident, with the Guarder I hit only in the hip with my arrow, I could imagine a few scenarios for why he suffered a wound in the chest. Fell on his own dagger, or his companion stabbed him, or he fell on a broken stump . . . But that thirteenth Guarder, there’s simply no explanation. I was losing consciousness as he was choking me. It took all my remaining strength to thrust the knife behind me, and I didn’t have a lot force going over my shoulder. There’s no way I slipped and stabbed him in the neck. The wound was too deep, at the wrong angle, and delivered by someone with great strength. Even after he released me, I wouldn’t have been in any condition to take him out until I could breathe easily again. Hogal, someone
else
was in that forest!”

Hogal nodded slowly. “I can’t think of any other explanation, either.”

“My question is,” Perrin whispered, “who? How? Why?”

“That’s actually three questions, my boy, but who’s counting. Perhaps a sympathetic Guarder? Maybe even your informant?”

“Maybe,” Perrin whispered, patting Jaytsy’s back with his free hand as she slept next to him. “Maybe he heard that more were being sent, and he came to help.” He shook that off. “No, that’s not right. I don’t know why, but I just feel it’s not right.”

“Agreed,” Hogal said. “What happened out there to you—
for
you
—is remarkable. I prayed all night for you to receive help, and you most definitely did.”

“I was on my knees after that twelfth Guarder, Hogal. I was thanking the Creator when I heard the thirteenth come up behind me.”

“He sent you help you didn’t even know you needed.”

“Hogal,” Perrin’s whisper was barely audible, and his great u
ncle leaned down to hear him better, “only you could understand this but, somehow I felt as if
He
was in the forest.”

Hogal squinted. “The Creator?”

Perrin shrugged then winced as he regretted the movement that shifted his back. “That’s not quite right either. I’m not saying the Creator was killing that last Guarder, but somehow it felt as if His
presence
was there. For a place so cold and dark, it was actually comforting. I can’t explain it.”

“I don’t think you have to, Perrin,” Hogal said. “There’s so much in the world that’s beyond our explanation. Sometimes we think we know everything, but when we finally see all that this world really
involves, we’ll discover we knew nothing at all. All our ideas were just as pitifully inaccurate as four year-olds arguing over what kind of baby snake a worm is. No, for now our understanding is so limited, our minds so small, the world so large—the Creator’s power is simply beyond our comprehension. Don’t try to explain anything, but be grateful for the experience and, after Mahrree has birthed this next baby and she’s steady again, tell her about it too. She needs to know.”

“Agreed,” Perrin whispered. “I feel awful not telling her the truth.”

“Not only because of that,” Hogal said as he removed the last bit of cotton, “but because . . .” He hesitated.

“What is it, Hogal?”

The old rector was quiet for another moment before he continued. “I wished I didn’t have to say this, but it’s very clear to me now: Perrin, the Refuser isn’t only after you. He’s after you’re entire family.”

“No!” Perrin whimpered, putting his large hand back on his daughter’s small body. “Because of me—”

“No, my boy!” Hogal gripped his nephew’s arm. “Not because of you, but because of who
they
are. Who they will become.”

Perrin craned his neck to see his great uncle better. “What are you talking about?”

“I wished I could understand more, but I don’t have the sight of a guide. I’m merely a lowly rector who receives impressions.” Hogal sighed. “Perrin, it’s no coincidence you married Mahrree. She poses just as great a threat to the Refuser’s plans as you do. She may prove to be a most dangerous woman some day. In fact,” he hesitated again, “I’m sure of it.”

“Mahrree? My small
Mahrree?
” Perrin squinted. “
Dangerous?
”

“That’s why she was targeted,” Hogal nodded. “Remember the saying, ‘The smallest annoyances—”

“—grow into the biggest pains.’” Perrin sighed and finished the familiar phrase. “‘It’s not the boulders in your way that slow you down, but the pebble in your boot.’”

“Exactly. And your children? I believe the Creator doesn’t ra
ndomly send souls to families. He has a plan. For you, your wife, your daughter, and your
son
.”

Perrin’s eyebrows shot upwards.

“They’ll all someday do things to anger the Refuser. The four of you are in the same family for a reason—you must all fight this war together.”

Perrin closed his eyes, not only because of the increased
twingeing in his back, but now also because of the twingeing in his mind.

“War,” he whispered.

“I’m afraid so,” Hogal whispered back. “I wished I
was
a guide—they could bestow blessings of protection. I can only pray. But remember, you’ve won two battles in the war so far. I also don’t think the Refuser’s going to give up easily. Whoever he’s influencing isn’t about to quit. The third battle—who knows?”

“And how many more after that?” Perrin murmured, his eyes still shut.

“I wouldn’t even dare guess,” Hogal said softly. “This isn’t a war that will end anytime soon. Maybe not even until the Last Day.”

“You couldn’t even give me one full day to enjoy my victory, could you?” Perrin opened his eyes to glare, only half in jest.

“Oh, they’re cheering you, Perrin Shin!” Hogal declared with smile. “In the Paradise of our ancestors, there’s great rejoicing!”

Perrin scoffed. “If you say so, Hogal Densal. I’m not hearing
much.”

“We rarely do, but trust me: they’re there.”

His nephew smiled faintly, and then it faded. “How can I tell Mahrree any of this?”

“Don’t tell her my impressions
about your family, my boy. Simply tell her about what happened in the forest.” Hogal put the soiled bandages in a bag to be washed later. “She already suspects something else happened. Your lieutenant told me—of all your planning and care, there was one detail that was overlooked.”

“What detail?”

“Your uniform. Completely undamaged and unbloodied?”

Perrin groaned. “My uniform! How could I have forgotten
that?
What did she say?”

“Not much, but thanked your officers for taking care of you and her. Uh, Perrin,” Hogal paused. “Exactly what
were
you wearing, if not your uniform?”

“White furry butterflies,” his nephew grumbled.

Hogal pondered that. “I see. And exactly
how hard
do they hit you to knock you unconscious? They’re
sure
planking doesn’t cause any memory problems?”

A voice prevented Perrin’s response. “I believe you’re expec
ting this?” Tabbit said brightly as she came in with a bucket half filled with snow, the weight of it slowing her down to a shuffle. Her smile vanished when she saw the ragged wound that was nearly the width of her nephew’s back. “Oh. My. If Joriana saw that she’d—”

Hogal held up his hand for the bucket. “Thank you, my dearest. Why don’t you go back and help with dinner?”

“Hycymum’s got it,” she said, her voice breaking and her eyes transfixed by the oozing around the stitches.

“Then ask Mahrree for some thick cloths to put around the snow on his back, so as it melts it won’t make the bed wet.”

“We have enough of that with Jaytsy in our bed so often,” Perrin chuckled quietly, trying to lighten his great aunt’s—and his—mood.

Tabbit’s shocked expression softened to hear her nephew jo
king. “Yes, of course,” she said, backing up. “Thick cloths, on the way!”

Mahrree’s voice came from the washing room. “I’ve got them already, Tabbit. Why don’t you go help my mother? I still can’t fo
llow her kitchen talk.”

Tabbit nodded and willingly headed back to the kitchen as Mahrree came and kneeled down next to her husband.

Perrin glanced at her furtively, trying to see that small woman with delicate hands, growing belly, and soft yet piercing eyes of green—