The captain raised one eyebrow. “That’s not helping.”
Rector Densal stood back up. “Ah, well. Worth a try, my boy.”
“That’s debatable.” Captain Shin rubbed his forehead. “Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but I am rather busy. Was there anything else—”
“Yes, yes! I told you, I’ve come to help. You see, dear Captain, you’ve been here for about a week and a half now, right?”
“True,” he said slowly, suspecting this line of questioning was to get him into a habit of agreeing before the real issue surfaced.
“And you’ve spent all that time either supervising fort construction, or making notes about the forest, right?”
The captain folded his arms.
“Well, the villagers are beginning to talk,” the rector said more soberly, but still with a spark of plotting in his eyes. “And, my boy, they’re a little worried. The army hasn’t stretched this far north since the Great War. Not even the kings bothered to travel the eighty miles to the Edge of the World. Sure, there was always a fort in Rivers, and a contingency in Mountseen, but here we’ve never had more than a handful of slow walking sergeants who sauntered through the markets during the day and drank in the tavern at night. But now the army is placing an entire fort here in Edge?”
“As directed by the Administrators,” the captain reminded. “And never before has the Guarder threat been so clear.”
The rector waved away the implied accusation. “They’ve been saying that forever. Been over thirty years since there was even a sighting of Guarders here. Before you were even born, I imagine.”
Captain Shin squinted at the old man. “I told you last week what the High General learned, Densal. You doubt the judgment of the High General?”
Hogal Densal waved that off with his other hand. “Of course not, but what I’m suggesting is, I doubt anything is going to come through those trees in the next few days. Have you seen anything yet?”
“No,” the captain admitted, “but the Guarders are extraordinarily skilled at concealing themselves. The High General wants me to get to know this forest as well as I can.”
Rector Densal smiled, and the captain wondered if he had just stepped into the old man’s plan. “Now, not having served in the army, I wouldn’t know, but I suspect the High General also wants you to get to know the village. Maybe sent you off with an admonition to win the hearts and minds of the people, become part of the community so they’ll more easily embrace the idea of a fort?” He waggled his eyebrows again.
Captain Shin sighed. “He did.”
“Then that’s how I’m going to help you, my boy!” He patted the captain’s back in a fatherly manner. “I have a proposal: in three days’ time you will come to the amphitheater at the village green after dinner and be the night’s guest debater.”
Captain Shin groaned. “Ah, no, no, no. I’m not going to—”
“Are you scared, Captain?”
“Of course not! It’s just, what kind of debates would a place like Edge have? I’m not about to argue who has the prettier hog.”
Rector Densal glared at him good-naturedly. “We do have other issues, you know. We may not be as sophisticated as Idumea, but we have a few thinkers among us. A few that might even make you think! I can assure you a most interesting time.”
The captain put a large hand on the small rector’s shoulder. “I appreciate the offer, but it just wouldn’t be fair to humiliate the revered rector in front of the entire village.”
Insulted, the rector shook a wrinkled finger at him. “First of all, it won’t be the entire village. Maybe just five hundred. Everyone else is helping with the planting. Second, I don’t take to the platform anymore. And third, what makes you think you’d win?!”
The captain leaned closer. “I always win.”
“Ha! Not in three days’ time you won’t. That is, unless you choose not to come because you’re not up to the challenge . . .” He shrugged in what he likely thought was a casual oh well manner, but the stiffness of his shoulders demonstrated he hadn’t practiced it enough.
Captain Shin glared, but he wasn’t entirely annoyed. “That’s the oldest trick there is, Densal. Daring me into accepting.”
“Is it working?”
“Maybe.”
Rector Densal grinned again. “I have just the opponent: the old school teacher. She delights in showing up overly-confident young men. She’ll jump at the chance of humiliating an officer of the Army of Idumea. And when you graciously concede—” he ignored the captain’s scoff, “—that she’s the more skilled debater, I promise the villagers of Edge will have a new respect for you. Acknowledge that Edgers are still superior. They like those kind of reminders, you know.”