Soldier at the Door (50 page)

But already the three young privates had happily abandoned their carts and were being escorted to a table by Hycymum’s gray-haired friends.

“No, no, no,” Perrin cringed, “first we need to—”

“Oh, Perrin, look at them—so pale and skinny!”

Perrin squinted at the three soldiers—each a different hue of brown, and two of them a bit on the hefty side—and wondered if Hycymum needed her eyes examined.

“Let them have some cake, first,” she said, patting his arm. “It’s your favorite, by the way,” she sing-
songed at him. “And I won’t tell Mahrree you had dessert before dinner!”

It really would have appeared tyrannical to drag the three so
ldiers away from the cake table in front of the crowd of sixty people enjoying the impromptu afternoon party. Instead, Perrin took a deep breath and walked into his mother-in-law’s house to inspect the folded banners stacked in tall piles throughout her gathering room.

Once he did, he was glad he was alone.

“Since when did I request black? White? Green . . . oh, and here’s purple. Of course. So
cheery
, isn’t it,” he grumbled, “to announce the first flowers of the season perhaps? This is so ridiculo—”

He stopped, stunned as he discovered the next unasked-for ba
nner color.

“Oh, she
can’t
be serious,” and he counted the folds. “Twelve. She actually expects me to . . . Mahrree, where are you?!”

“So what do you think?!” he heard his mother-in-law’s voice ringing behind him.

“These,” he turned to her and pointed to the stack of red, blue, orange, and yellow he had requested, “look perfect. Strong, lightweight cloth that will easily catch the breeze, and as long and wide as we discussed. The Army of Idumea and I formally thank you, Mrs. Peto. But Mother Peto, this—
this?!
”

“Oh, there’s always new emergencies coming up, aren’t there?” She grinned as she came over to straighten a stack of additional ba
nners. “I decided to anticipate the need and make you extra colors now!”

“But, honestly, Mother Peto,
this
one?!”

He held up the shocking banner. It unfurled before him, the t
apered end unrolling on the ground to reveal its full twenty foot length. He flopped the wide end over his shoulder and held out the banner. 

“Pink?! With
dark pink
stripes, no less?” He shook it at her. “What kind of emergency in the world would require a pink striped banner? Attacking flower sellers?! Belligerent out-of-work jesters?!”

Hycymum put her hands on her full hips. “Or the arrival of sp
ecial entertainment at the amphitheater? Or new goods at the market from Idumea? Perrin, I got that cloth at a very good price. You’ll see that on the bill. And it hangs so lovely from a pole—”

“
PINK?!
”

“Perrin, I’m beginning to suspect you don’t
like
the pink.”

“I didn’t ask for this!” he tried to keep his bellow down.

Hycymum blinked at him. “But surely you’ll think of some use for it. Look at the dye job! Really quite lovely.”

Perrin opened his mouth to give his explicit opinion of said dye job when he saw his three privates come into the gathering room, finishing off their bits of cake. They stopped when they saw their commander with the pink striped banner draped over his shoulder and cascading in front of him.

“It
is
lovely, sir,” one of them said bravely. “Complements your black hair.”

All three soldiers snorted.

The only thing that preserved their lives at that moment was the arrival of Hycymum’s sewing friends coming to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ over the banners, and to finger the pink striped one that Perrin couldn’t seem to find a way to put back on the pile.

Nearly an hour later, as the privates trudged with their heavy carts into the compound of the fort, Major Shin gestured to Captain Karna.

“In these carts you’ll find the four colors of banners we requested, as well as a few others that can be put into storage. But at the very bottom of this cart,” he pointed to the offensive one, “You’ll find a banner for which I will never,
ever
find a use. Dispose of those
discretely
!”

“How will I know which banner that is?” Karna smirked.

“You’ll know,” Perrin said heavily.

---

Lieutenant Heth brushed down his horse in the stable, and couldn’t help but smile. He hadn’t owned a horse in years, and the dappled gray was steady and strong. Everything was shaping up exactly as he had dreamed. His old guest bedroom was the same as he left it years ago, and the food was even better than he remembered.

Or maybe it was because after so much dormitory food—each meal with an oddly persistent gray tinge to it—anything else tasted like a Harvest Day Feast.

Even his new companion was tolerable, another newly graduated lieutenant with
extra training
provided by Administrator Gadiman.

That was the only downside—the ever hovering presence of Gadiman. All training was done at night, and Heth wondered if the Administrator ever slept. Maybe he didn’t, which would explain his pasty skin, bloodshot eyes, and permanent sneer.

But he could put up with Gadiman, because of what was coming next. Using Lieutenant Walickiah was Brisack’s idea, but with Mal counting on his failure, there would be Heth.

And then, there would be
everything else
.

Heth didn’t notice the scruffy-looking man wheeling in the bales of hay until he came up next to him and patted the mare on her flanks.

“Nice looking animal. Must have come from the Stables at Pools. Of course, only the best for Mal’s officers. Or,” he added in a whisper, “for the
son of a king
.”

Heth stopped in mid brushing and looked over to the man next to him.

“Dormin!” he gasped at his younger brother who he hadn’t seen in over a year.

“
Shh,” Dormin whispered. “Just like you I’ve changed my name. Call me . . . Ted.”

“Ted?”

“Took me a while to find you again. In King Oren’s former mansion? Whew. This is plucky. I don’t know what game you’re playing, but I have a feeling you don’t know all the rules.”

“
Ted?
”

“Obviously Mal knows who you are and placed you here. But for what reasons, I can’t quite fathom. Intriguing, though. How long do you plan to stay here?”

“Ted!”

“Yes, Ted. What, it’s better than Heth. Is that a first or last name, anyway?”

“What are you doing here?” Heth finally hissed at his younger brother. He looked frantically around, but the other stable hands were too busy with their work to think anything of a lieutenant talking with the straw man.

“I’ve come to say good-bye,” Dormin-Ted whispered. “At first I wasn’t sure why, but now seeing you in that uniform and in these stables—well, I think it’s obvious.”

“When I saw you last you said I’d never see you again. Come to break your promise, Doorknob Ted?” Heth was recovering from his shock.

Dormin didn’t show any reaction to the jab. “Have you given any thought to what I talked to you about? The Writings?”

Heth rolled his eyes. “Doorgirl, of course not. So many better things to do.” He straightened his uniform jacket proudly.

Dormin didn’t even look at it. “And what’re you going to do? Take back our old mansion?”

“I’m not going to
take it
, Doormouse; it’s going to be
given
to me.”

“
Given
,” Dormin repeated calmly. “Why?”

Heth chuckled quietly. “Wouldn’t you like to know. But you won’t, until you hear about it, and then it will be too late, and not one of those rooms will be for you, Door-for-brains!”

His brother nodded slowly. “None of those rooms will be for you, either, Heth. I have an idea of what you’re about to do, and I promise—it will fail. I’ll never see you again because you’ll be dead.”

Heth scoffed. “You’re always been so serious and dull. And you have no idea what I’m about to do!”

Dormin sighed. “Please, Sonoforen, change your mind. It’s not too late. I know of things you simply can’t imagine! Everyone here thinks they know, but . . . well, take this for instance. Sonoforen, what color is the sky?”

Heth rolled his eyes. “Blue!”

“You didn’t even look, did you? You just assumed you know, but did you actually
look
at it?”

With a dramatic sigh, Heth glanced out the open stable doors to see the tiny patch of sky available. “See? Blue. Right there.”

Dormin pressed his lips together. “That’s precisely right, isn’t it? See the part that you
want
to see, assume it applies to everything else, and stop thinking. But it’s all wrong, Sonoforen,” he whispered. “So much is wrong! Please, come with me, and let me show you—”

“The door,
Dorminhead!” Heth said, gesturing to the stable exit. “I’ve had enough, and I’m due in for dinner soon.”

“You’re sloppy, and it’ll kill you,” Dormin warned in a low voice. “The only way for you to have the High General’s mansion is if there’s
no more High General
.”

Heth swallowed, realizing that as vague as he thought he was, he obviously wasn’t enough.

“I’ll miss you, Sonoforen,” Dormin said bleakly. “I’m not sure why, though. Maybe I’ll miss the relationship we
could’ve
had. If only you’d come with me, but . . . I suppose not. Good-bye, then, Lieutenant Heth.”

Heth stared after him as slinked out of the stables.

“Dead-head Ted!” he shouted, but Dormin didn’t even turn around as he pushed the empty straw cart away.

---

“You’re quiet for once,” Lieutenant Xat commented as he and Heth ate their dinners in an anteroom to the main dining hall.

Mal always ate alone, poring over pages and notes that were spread over the kings’ massive banquet table. His guards ate at small tables in attached rooms with a clear view of the Chairman constantly at work. Securing, but not interfering.

“Sorry,” Heth said absent-mindedly cutting his steak into small pieces in the proper manner of a future king. “
Only a little distracted.”

It was the flash of motion that he saw out of the corner of his eye that saved his hand. He withdrew it nearly too late as
Xat’s fork came down on it.

“What’s that for?!” Heth exclaimed as he examined his nearly-tined hand. There was a slight scratch mark on it, and a thin line of blood where the fork caught him.

“That’s what happens to the distracted!” Xat pointed his fork at Heth’s hand. “Failure! You’re lucky you have such fast reflexes. But I don’t want to narrowly escape death, Heth. I plan to succeed where no one else has, and if I don’t think you’ll be the best partner, I’ll tell Gadiman tonight.”

Heth nodded, grudgingly apologetic. “You’re right, you’re right. I’ll be more focused.”

“
Completely
focused,” Xat emphasized. “You’ll not ruin this for me.”

“Nor for
me
,” Heth said with a solid glare.

“So what is it?” Xat asked, stabbing his steak with his fork and tearing off a piece with his teeth. “As your partner, I should know everything in order to keep you centered on our mission,” he ga
rbled.

Heth grumbled. “Just had an unexpected visitor this afternoon.”

“From your past?” Xat tore off another chunk of meat.

“Yes. Someone I thought was gone.”

“We’re to eliminate all connections with the past, remember?” Xat chewed noisily.

“I had, but his person found me, not the other way around.”

“Uh-oh,” Xat sneered as he swallowed. “How much did you owe him?”

Heth paused, trying to think of how to avoid discussing his brother. Dormin had seemed
different
. And once again, Heth had been more interested in insulting him than in finding out anything about him. It was obvious Mal couldn’t use him, but the Chairman wouldn’t believe that. Besides, if Mal used Dormin, that’d be competition for his mansion, and the last person in the world Heth would share that mansion with was his brother. He’d sooner allow the Shin family to move in, if any of them survived.

“Four slips of silver,” Heth eventually said. “He forgot I repaid him last year.”

“They always do,” Xat said, shoving the rest of his steak in his mouth. “Anything else?” he tried to say without dropping bits of meat.

“Nope. He’s gone. Especially when I showed him the only si
lver I’d give him was my long knife.”

Xat nodded in approval. “Dying to use it, aren’t you?”