The Forest at the Edge of the World(143)
Hogal patted Perrin’s hand. “It will be all right, my boy—”
Perrin stood up abruptly, knocking his chair backwards. “HOW will it be all right, Hogal?! They want my wife and babies! They’ve been successful before, in eight different villages! How do I know those people weren’t warned like this, and failed to stop them?!”
Tabbit covered her mouth in terror and slipped into a chair next to her husband.
“They’re cowards!” Perrin bellowed at the message. “Going after the most vulnerable and innocent?! What could be easier targets than an expecting woman and her nine-moons-old daughter?! NO!”
“Perrin, sit down,” Hogal said firmly. “Now.”
Perrin’s broad chest heaved up and down as he met Hogal’s determined gaze. For a tiny old man, he was profoundly persuasive.
Perrin eventually sighed, picked up his chair, and sat down again. With his head in his hands he murmured, “How do I fight this, Hogal?”
“With one hundred soldiers, Perrin!” Hogal reminded him. “Keep her under guard, at all times.”
“Or make up an excuse and move her and Jaytsy to the guest rooms at the fort,” Tabbit suggested. “Say there are bugs infesting the house, and it needs to be cleaned out with herbs that might affect your next baby.”
Hogal nodded. “Not a bad idea.”
“There are no bugs in the middle of Raining Season,” Perrin mumbled in irritation. “Not under a foot of snow. And Mahrree would never agree to living at the fort. Sorry, Auntie,” he said more quietly. “I didn’t mean to get angry.”
She patted his hand. “You have every right, Perrin.”
“Perrin, just tell her. She’s an intelligent, thoughtful woman. She can handle this,” Hogal promised.
Perrin looked at him glumly. “When she’s not expecting, yes, she’s a very intelligent, thoughtful woman. But when she’s expecting? She’s a little . . . emotional. Even though she’s only halfway through this expecting, she’s still—well, take last week, for example. She said that since the fort had been so quiet, maybe my father would consider shutting it down and letting me take on less dangerous work, like being a rancher!”
Hogal and Tabbit laughed sadly.
“Obviously she doesn’t know that cattle run away from you,” Hogal said.
Perrin smiled halfheartedly. “She didn’t believe me. But then she went on to list all kinds of other work I could do. Something safer that will ensure that our children always have a father.”
“Perrin,” Tabbit said gently, “she knew what she was getting into when she married an officer. I talked to her about it, and so did your mother.”
“But this is precisely the kind of thing she’s fretting about,” Perrin explained. “I know once she’s birthed this next baby, she’ll be a little more rational, but for the next three moons or so? She’s terrified something will happen to me. So how am I supposed to tell her that it’s not me she should be worried about? There’s something more,” he said, his round shoulders sagging. “We haven’t been getting much sleep lately again—”
Tabbit frowned. “I thought Jaytsy was sleeping through the night.”
“She is,” Perrin sighed, “but recently Mahrree’s been . . . There’s a problem. For the past week she’s already been feeling strong pains. We were up most the night last night counting them. It’s far too early, and the midwife says Mahrree needs to relax and not feel any stress so that she doesn’t risk birthing too soon. Hycymum knows, and has been coming over every day to clean up and cook, and drive Mahrree a bit crazy with too much attention, but can you imagine what this kind of news would do to Mahrree? She could lose the baby.” His voice cracked and he stared at the table again.
“I had no idea!” Tabbit whispered. “I’ll go over tomorrow to help Hycymum. Maybe I can entertain Jaytsy.”
“Thank you, Auntie,” he smiled at her, but his eyes were wet. “We didn’t want to worry either of you, but now I see that we need all the help we can get.”
“That’s why we’re here, my boy.” Hogal examined the message again. “No time frame given.”
“I know,” Perrin said. “Something could happen tonight, or in five weeks from now.”
“They always attack at night, correct?” Hogal said.
“So far. Which means I need to beef up patrols every night until something happens, but we can’t look like we’re expecting something. They’ll strike when we appear the most susceptible. They likely won’t want to be out in the freezing temperatures for long. Their black attire stands out rather well against the whiteness . . .” His voice trailed off. “Black against white . . .”