The Mansions of Idumea (Book 3 Forest at the Edge series) (61 page)

Instead of responding to the news, Perrin
leaned over and shook Poe’s overly large and ill-fitting jacket.
“This isn’t yours, Private
.
”

“No, sir,” he smiled weakly in apology. “But
mine’s on underneath, so I’m not actually out of uniform. This was
Master Sergeant Zenos’s idea. He thought I could get further in his
jacket than in mine.”

Jaytsy touched the sleeve of the jacket. “I
miss Uncle Shem. Is he all right?”

“Yes, and he wanted me to tell Mrs. Shin that
we finished the roof two days ago. No snow is in your bedroom,
sir,” he said to Perrin.

Perrin smiled faintly. “Good old Shem,” he
said, still avoiding talking about Edge. “So Private, why send
you?”

Private Hili looked over at the High General
of Idumea again, obviously worried about what his answer may do to
him.

The general nodded once. “Go on, son. I’m
interested in hearing this as well. Don’t worry; you were only
following orders, right?”

Private Hili cleared his throat. “Major Karna
wanted to be sure you got the message as soon as possible, from
someone at the fort. He and Zenos thought I would be the best to
send, considering the hour and the way I may need to travel, my
experience and everything.”

“Your experience in stealing things like
horses to hasten your progress?” Perrin suggested.

Poe nodded guiltily. “The messenger system
doesn’t like to lend out their horses to non-messengers, nor did
Zenos or Karna think the messengers would relay our urgency as
well. They thought that someone with my background and ability
could get here better than anyone else. I’m sorry, sirs.” He tossed
a pleading glance to General Shin.

“You won’t be thrown into incarceration for
horse theft or impersonating a superior, so don’t worry,” the
general assured him. “I have a little clout here, Private.”

“Even though I volunteered, sir?”

High General Shin smiled slyly. “Now why
would a mere private volunteer for such a risky task?”

“To begin to repay a debt?” Poe
whispered.

Perrin just stared at him, his eyes growing
wet.

“And sir,” Poe turned to Perrin, “Zenos
didn’t want Karna’s name mentioned, but Karna insisted his name be
attached to this too. I haven’t been serving long enough to know
who I’m supposed to obey—”

Perrin smiled. “I’ll take care of it all,
Hili.”

Mahrree, who had come into the room a few
moments before, cocked her head at Poe’s unusual words. She put
down a plate full of food from The Dinner in front of the private.
“I hope you find something there you like, Poe,” she said.

“Yes ma’am!” Poe grinned at the options. He
took a large bite of a pheasant leg and garbled with his mouth
full. “Maybe Neeks was right. Grandpy said you might not want to
come home after experiencing all of this.” Poe took in his elegant
surroundings for the first time and shook his head. “I wouldn’t
blame you, either. You live like kings here!” He took another
aggressive bite and Perrin leaned over to pat him on the
shoulder.

“No Poe, we’re going home.” He looked at his
wife, then his father. “I’ve decided: we’re leaving tomorrow,
with
the wagons. I want twenty now, Father—a ton of grain in
each. The situation has changed.”

“Oh, Perrin,” the general started and shook
his head. “I’m not sure how we’re going to do that.”

“It’s the right thing to do! You’re the High
General of Idumea!” Perrin reminded him. “Doesn’t that mean
something? You have clout, remember?”

“Perrin!” Joriana snapped. “How dare you
speak to him like that?”

“Because Mother, five thousand citizens are
going to starve soon,” said Perrin sharply. “And I refuse to just
sit by and wait while a group of men bicker about if a bad law
should change, and how, while people suffer. I want the general to
do something about this!”

General Shin looked at his son, holding is
gaze for a moment. “And I will.”

---

“But General,” Chairman Mal simpered in a
sickly sweet tone, “the reserves are not for the citizens. You know
that as well as I do.”

Mal leaned back on the sofa in his grand
gathering room and evaluated the High General seated across from
him in a stuffed chair. For someone so frail, the general sat tall
and commanding. He had a fire in his eyes the Chairman hadn’t seen
for some time.

“As much as I feel for the people of Edge,
it’s just a tragedy, Relf. I’m sorry. We already let Moorland die.
Perhaps we need to let Edge die, too.” Mal leaned forward. “We’ll
send a messenger to tell the fort to start evacuation immediately.
Within the next few days everyone can be housed in new
villages—”

General Shin shook his head. “That’s not an
option, and
you
know that as well as I do. Many of the
displaced citizens of Moorland moved to Edge! They probably just
arrived. And with this snow, all of the other villages in the north
will be suffering food shortages as well. According to the reports
of the other commanders, the surrounding areas have just enough to
get them through until the first crops come in. None of them can
take an extra five thousand people! Thieves are looting all of the
northern villages, and with this storm, who knows what kind of
condition everyone’s crops are in!”

Now the Chairman shook his head. “Relf,
my
friend
, I know this is difficult. But it’s like—well, remember
that calf, born a year or two ago, with the two heads? It just
wasn’t meant to be. After a day it died. Nature’s way of taking
care of what should not be. Relf, the land tremor, the snow, the
ruined food stores—this is Nature’s way. Be grateful your family is
here. We’ll put Perrin to good use at the garrison. Let those in
Edge who are strong enough leave, and those who aren’t shouldn’t be
reproducing anyway. Nature chooses who survives and who dies, and
it’s choosing now.”

“Nicko,” Shin’s voice was low and livid, “I
never would’ve imagined such words from you. From King Querul the
Third, yes. But from you?” He threw his hands up in exasperation.
“Comparing the people of Edge to a deformed calf? Nature’s way? No!
I refuse to accept that explanation! This isn’t Nature destroying a
useless creature. This is an opportunity to help those in need. You
want the citizens of the world to be loyal? Take care of them!”

“Relf, Relf,” Mal held up his hands in a
soothing manner which he knew would only further enrage the old
soldier, “Brisack already has a way to provide aid. He has a coffer
of gold precisely for this situation—”

“They don’t need gold, Nicko! They need
grain! There’s no food to buy anywhere, but there are barnfuls just
sitting at the garrison doing nothing.”

“But the reserves are different, Relf.”

“Because it’s for
us
, Nicko?” General
Shin asked pointedly.

Mal sighed. “Consider: if we release even a
fraction of the stores for Edge, we may have to do it for everyone.
We simply can’t do that. How disastrous would it be if every
village expected us to feed them? There’d be nothing left for
us—”

“This is a crisis!” Shin smacked the armrest.
“It’s just to get them through! There’ll still be plenty left, and
even to share with other northern villages if they need it. Edge
will grow extra this year to repay what they took. Tax them higher
if you must, but Brisack and Windrow are already in agreement to
release the stores. You can push this through tonight.”

“The Administrator of Taxation will not
agree,” the Chairman said simply.

“But if I put pressure on him, he will!”

“Relf, just wait
,
” Nicko said
smoothly, noticing how it only further ruffled Relf. “In three more
days everyone will be back from their holidays, rested and happy
and willing to help. Then we can discuss the need in Edge.”

“And how long after you finish discussing
will you release the food?” asked General Shin warily.

Mal bobbed his head back and forth,
considering. “We most likely will form a subcommittee to
investigate the amounts needed, then have a decision in no more
than . . . a week, I’d guess.”

The general’s eyebrows shot up. “Perrin’s
already figured out the amount! Did so this morning in conjunction
with the keeper of the reserves. But no—you want to wait three days
for everyone’s return, then another week to decide a number already
figured out, then two more days for them to travel to Edge? That’s
nearly two weeks! Half of the children could be dead by then!”

The Chairman shook his head. “I don’t like
the way Nature works either, Relf. But then again,” he tilted his
head thoughtfully, “they wouldn’t need as much grain.”

Shin smacked the armrest again. “It’s not
Nature that’s killing them, it’s you!”

Mal bristled. “General Shin, I don’t
appreciate your accusations!”

“And I don’t appreciate your willingness to
let a whole village die!” Shin would have been on his feet if he
had enough strength. “And for what? Food you’ll never eat? No one
will
ever
eat? You want it just because you think it’s
yours. But you didn’t plant it and you didn’t harvest it. You just
took it. You don’t even need it. We never have. In eighteen years
no one’s ever needed that surplus, until today. And now you’re
demonstrating the same conceit as the kings. I didn’t help you get
to power for
this
, Nicko!”

Now the old wolf was going too far. “General
Shin,” the Chairman’s voice was barely controlled, “I must inform
you that you are bordering on traitorous speech.”

Relf didn’t care. “Do you even remember
why
you wanted to be the leader? Why you formed this
Administration? Or have you forgotten all those ideals you used to
spout about at the university? ‘Here for the people!’ That’s what
you proclaimed in the throne room the moment before I sent the
execution squad to kill that idiot King Oren on his throne.”

General Shin shook his head and looked down
at his hands that he clasped in front of him.

“Just an hour ago,” began Relf quietly, “I
was accused by an innocent young man of living like a king. And you
know what? I do. We all do. I sat there wondering when that
happened. When did we become what we destroyed?” He looked up.
“Nicko, this is a way to reverse some of that.”

The Chairman looked at his High General. He
clasped his hands together in front of him too and spoke calmly.
“Relf, we just need a little time. I promise you the first day
everyone’s back, the crisis in Edge will be the first item of
business. Maybe the subcommittee can be pushed forward a bit. Send
me Perrin’s calculations, and I’ll do my best.”

Shin stared at him for an entire minute
before finally saying to the man squirming under his glare, “Nicko,
it doesn’t sound like your best will be good enough.”

---

Nicko Mal watched as General Shin was helped
into his carriage by his lieutenant. It wasn’t until the carriage
pulled away and was heading down the long drive that Mal waved over
one of his guards.

“Find Brisack and bring him here immediately.
We have a problem that’s about to get a lot worse.”

---

General Shin limped through his front doors
shortly before dinner time.

“He’s back!” called Joriana to the gathering
room. The family rushed to meet the general in the Great Hall.

General Shin waved to his lieutenant
accompanying him from the trip to the Chairman’s mansion. “Riplak,
in here. Perrin, Joriana, Mahrree, you too. Peto, get that private.
I realize he hasn’t slept long, but we have business before us.
Jaytsy, get me something to drink.”

His grandchildren looked disappointed, but he
smiled at them. “I promise you won’t miss anything.”

He hobbled slowly to his study as those he
called for followed him in. Without another word he sat at his
desk, pulled out a piece of paper, and began to write.

Perrin, Mahrree, and Joriana exchanged
questioning glances while Riplak stood at attention and tried to
surreptitiously see what the general wrote.

A moment later Peto and Private Hili arrived,
Poe trying to force his sleepy eyes open while standing at
attention. Jaytsy darted in a moment later with a mug of juice she
sat on the desk next to her grandfather.

And then everyone stood as patiently as
possible, the only sound in the room the small and rapid scritching
of Relf’s quill.

Perrin and Mahrree tried to trade some facial
communication as to what this was all about, but Mahrree wasn’t as
good at it as Perrin, and after a minute they both had confused
scowls on their faces. Private Hili’s eyes kept closing and he
swayed gently back and forth. Peto shifted his weight from one foot
to the other, while Jaytsy worriedly studied her grandmother.
Joriana pursed her lips as she watched her husband.

Finally General Shin glanced up.

“Close the door, please, Jaytsy. I’m writing
something for you, Riplak.” He looked back down to continue writing
as Jaytsy shut the door. “You’ll be a messenger tonight, Riplak.
You get to ride all of the way to Edge, in fact.” He gave Riplak a
small smile while the rest of his family watched, open mouthed.
“I’m sure you’ve always wanted to see it. The mountains really are
quite something up close. No one here appreciates them, but they’re
impressive in the right light. You should be there to see the
dawn.”

He reached into his desk and pulled out his
official mark to stamp the bottom of the message.

“You’ll not delegate this assignment to
anyone, Riplak, nor will you reveal the nature of your assignment
to anyone. Kindiri will just have to hear about it later.”

Then he lifted the paper.

“It reads, ‘To the forts and messenger
stations of the Administrators. Arriving shortly after this
messenger will be an emergency caravan of twenty large
wagons’—”