Soldier at the Door(7)

Shin raised his hand to stop the young man’s frantic defense. He didn’t need that much honesty.

Zenos bit his lower lip to silence it.

Perrin considered him. There was no deceit in his clear blue eyes, so there must have been something else. While Zenos’s body was surprisingly broad and muscular, his smooth, almost gentle face looked like it belonged to a twelve-year-old.

“Do you have your parents’ permission to be here?”

Zenos furrowed his eyebrows. “Sir, I don’t have a mother anymore, and my father wasn’t too happy about me leaving, but he’s getting over it.”

“I may need a signature, Zenos.”

Zenos’s mouth dropped open. “Sir, I’m of age! I’m twenty. My birthday was at the beginning of the season!”

Shin smiled dubiously. “Really.”

Zenos rubbed his smooth chin. “My father can’t grow much of a beard either, sir. I assure you, I am of age. Have been for two years.”

If a single hair emerged on his chin, the boy probably would have thrown a celebration.

“Well, no crime in not growing a beard. Saves you some time each morning. While the rest of the army is shaving, you’ll be first in line for breakfast. But if you choose to sign up later, I may need a verifying signature from your father.”

Zenos shifted uneasily. “Would take some time to get that but . . . yes, sir.”

So it was likely his age. Nothing else made him as uncomfortable as that. Perrin would send a message to the chief of enforcement asking if any villages were missing a younger-than-legal boy. Until he received word back, there was nothing else he could do except let him stay and work for food. At least he’d be safe at the fort.

Perrin went back to writing, hoping to elicit something about Zenos’s relationship with his family. “Your father owns cattle, you say? Between Flax and Waves?”

“Yes, sir. Large herd. Even brought some of it up to Idumea once to sell. May do it again when he has a big surplus.”

“The garrison is always looking for good beef.” Shin continued to write.

“My father sold his last surplus to the garrison, sir. About a year ago.”

Perrin nodded as he took careful notes on the paper, stalling to come up with another tactic to gather more information about the boy’s father.

Zenos leaned forward a bit to see what the captain was writing.

Perrin looked up abruptly, but didn’t focus on the young man who froze in alarm that he’d been caught snooping. Instead he watched the door.

A moment later it swung open.

There stood a wide-eyed corporal, panting. Realizing that he’d opened the door without knocking first, he lamely did so then. Then he looked at the door in complete confusion as if trying to work out what he was doing.

“Well, Yip?!” Shin demanded.

The corporal turned immediately to the captain and nodded.

“Said she’s positive this time,” he gasped. “Something about water rupturing? Mrs. Peto arrived and said to come get you. Midwives are on their way.”

Shin slammed down the quill and stood up.

“Zenos, welcome to Edge,” he said hurriedly. “You’ll have to excuse me, but Karna will show you around and get you a cot. I’m due at home. I need to take my daughter for a very long walk.”

“Second child, sir?” Zenos asked.

“Yes!” Shin shouted as he ran down the stairs.

Lieutenant Karna chuckled from the outer office. “About time, Captain! Good luck!” he called. “Zenos, I’ll be with you in just a moment.”

“Yes, sir,” Zenos called back. “Take your time.”

All alone in the office, he looked around and took quick mental notes. He was there for research, after all.

Although the documents on the desk were organized and tidy, the fort didn’t seem overly formal, and the lieutenant and the captain appeared to be on easy terms judging by the laughter he heard before the captain came in to interview him, and the casual send-off the lieutenant shouted as the captain left.

Zenos admired the overly large, clear windows of the command office, which revealed a great deal of the forest to the east and west, and the village in the south. The enormous windows in the forward office also afforded an unobstructed view of the forest directly to the north. Much more than he expected, but that was exactly what he needed to find out.

Through the western window he spied the captain sprinting, at an amazing pace for such a burly build, out the fort’s gates and down the road south towards the village. Yet another piece of crucial information: the captain was a very fast runner, and wholly devoted to his family. And either today or tomorrow, another Shin would be born.