Soldier at the Door(209)

Besides, she’d be all right. She had to be. Bad things happened to other people, not her. And there was that old man she remembered yesterday morning, the one who last year asked the Creator to preserve them. Mahrree nodded confidently to herself. If the Creator wouldn’t honor the request of a sweet old man, then who would He honor?

Mahrree would be preserved. Of course she’d be.

Then again, on the other hand, she realized she could still go back home and no one would ever know what foolishness she committed that night in the name of annoyance, aggravation and yes, maybe pride. She could just—

No.

No. She would succeed where no one else—no man—had. She was Mahrree Peto Shin. The daughter of the most intelligent teacher the world never knew, the wife of a commander, the daughter-in-law of the most powerful officer, and therefore, in her own right, quite possibly the most dangerous woman in the world.

What other woman would be doing what she was that night? None. Women could be just as determined, brave, and strong as men. Even more so. She would do what her husband couldn’t—

Mahrree sighed as she picked her way through the underbrush. She hated to admit it, but there were moments during the past season that she considered her husband to be . . .

Well, take that night weeks ago, when he told her that the High General wouldn’t let him back into the forest, and that he wouldn’t defy the law again. Mahrree had started to say she had never known him to be—

She was going to say “cowardly,” but then he started to say it himself, with such ashamed anger tingeing his voice that she immediately changed it to “cautious.” She’d never known him to be cautious.

But that wasn’t what she meant, and she secretly still suspected him to be something worse than “cautious.” When he first came to Edge he wanted to know the truth; that was the excuse he gave her for going in to the forest that first time with Karna. He wanted to find someone to get answers. He was tired of secrets too.

But not anymore. Every time they talked about the Administrators, she could see it in his eyes: a wall went up, and he scurried to hide behind it. There’s twenty-three of them, he’d remind her, and only two of us. She’d never met any of them, and never intended to, but they were only older university professors, and slow-witted ones as well. Perrin had one hundred fifty men under his command, and his father had 15,000 and the army was growing. Those were very good odds, indeed!

But they never used that power. Relf Shin was as intimidated and hesitant as his son. But this was where she was different. She would find that truth, reveal those secrets, and show the world what it meant to be brave.

Courage wasn’t killing your enemies; it was looking them in the eyes and proclaiming, “I am here to know you.”

Then she would—

“What are you doing so far over here?”

The voice, barely louder than a whisper, was strong, sharp and—shockingly—female. It came from another black cloak right in front of her. Where it appeared from, and from what direction, Mahrree didn’t know. It completely took her breath away and all she could do was stare and tremble.

“I told you to go over—Oh. Wait. Who are you?”

Mahrree could only lick her lips, because no answer came to her completely blank mind.

The cloaked woman abruptly reached up, grabbed Mahrree’s hood, and yanked it down.

“Oh, no.”

Before Mahrree could think, the woman grabbed her arm and led her straight north, deeper into the forest. She took about ten clumsy steps before her frightened mind caught up to her.

I’m going into the forest, deeper into the forest . . . Dear Creator, I’m heading into the forest!

Just as suddenly as she pulled her, the woman stopped, shoved Mahrree to the ground behind a large boulder away from the view of the tree line, and pushed back her own hood.

Later Mahrree realized that was her opportunity to run away, but the thought didn’t occur her until hours later. All she could do was look up into the woman’s face. She had long graying blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and, judging from her lightly wrinkled pale skin, was at least in her fifties.

“Miss, what in the world do you think you’re doing out here?” Her tone was sharp and cutting, like a dagger.

“I . . . I . . . don’t really know myself.”

At that moment, Mahrree’s answer was honest.

“What, you simply thought you’d take a late night stroll along the most dangerous piece of land in the world?”

“I . . . I . . . ,” Mahrree stammered stupidly. Then it came to her. “I got lost trying to find my aunt’s house.”

As soon as the words came out, they sounded dumb.