“Oh?” Suiden asked. “You expect to find some here?” Slevoic opened his mouth, but the captain cut him off. “Dismissed, Lieutenant. Now.” Suiden didn’t say anything for a count of ten after Lieutenant Slevoic and company had left; then all he said was that we would wait for Lieutenant Groskin to arrive from the stables, which he soon did. Captain Suiden made sure we were all accounted for, then had Groskin shut the door.
“Listen up, men. You are to remain in the barracks by order of the commander. You will not leave nor will you receive visitors. Evening meal will be delivered.” The captain caught sight of my robe again. “So will ample water for those of you who desire to wash. Lieutenant Groskin, remain here to make sure that these orders are obeyed. That is all.”
“Captain?” Lieutenant Groskin asked.
“I will talk with you when I return, Lieutenant.” Captain Suiden turned to me. “Rabbit, you’re with me.”
“Permission to change into my uniform, sir,” I said.
Captain Suiden actually smiled. “No. Commander Ebner will get over the robe, eventually, but he wants us there a couple of moments ago.” At that, he turned and headed for the door as I followed.
When we arrived at the commander’s quarters, we were ushered immediately into his presence. We stood at attention, the candlelight highlighting my robe’s vivid blues, reds and purples, and I wondered what the commander had heard about me, because his mustache stayed still.
“At ease, men. Sit down,” Commander Ebner said, as his aide shut the door. We waited for him to sit; then we seated ourselves in the chairs drawn up to his desk. I made sure that there were no gaps in my robe, as I didn’t want to flash my superior officers.
The commander fished out a piece of paper from a neat stack. “Trooper Rabbit, no patronymic. Father, Lord Rafe ibn Chause, third brother of the current Lord Chause; mother, Lady Hilga eso Flavan, daughter of the current Lord Flavan—”
“They’ve taken the names Two Trees and Lark, sir,” I said.
“—who thirty years ago renounced their Houses and moved to the Border to become farmers”—Commander Ebner read a little further—”and weavers.” He sighed and set aside the paper. “Why did you leave the Border, Trooper Rabbit?”
How does one rebel against rebels? My parents had cast off the privileges of position and rank to raise their family in the Border, unfettered by hypocrisy and oppressing conformity, to embrace earth, cottage goods, and the fae that lived wild and free, uncorrupted by the effluence of human governance. Fiat.
So, how did I one-up that? I ran away to the city and became a horse soldier in the Royal Army of King Jusson Golden Eye.
“I wanted to see the world, sir,” I replied.
Commander Ebner looked back down on the paper. “Thirty-two degrees to the throne with Chause, and forty degrees with Flavan.” He looked up at me again. “You could have joined at Iversly and become an officer, perhaps even a royal guard.”
“I’m not an aristo, sir. I’m a farmer’s son.”
He looked at my robe. “Hmm. Yes.” He shifted in his chair. “You met a Faena during this last patrol.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you know the history of Iversterre?” Commander Ebner asked.
“Yes, sir. Or at least a version of it.”
“Hmm, I’m sure,” the commander said. “We have our own version too. The truth probably falls somewhere in the middle.” I silently disagreed, remembering the long-lived elves’ tales of harryings, burnings and killings.
“There were magicals here once,” Commander Ebner said. “But as the kingdom expanded, the magicals withdrew—until Iversterre reached what is now the Border. Then all hell broke loose.”
“The Border War, Rabbit,” Captain Suiden said.
“Yes,” Commander Ebner said, “with the Border army led by these Faenas.” He smoothed his mustache. “We were spanked hard, trooper, and sent to bed without our supper. A most shocking and humiliating defeat. We were very fortunate that they allowed us to sue for peace, and now we ignore the Border, hoping very hard that it ignores us back.”
It didn’t. The Border was very much aware of its southern neighbor, like a pebble in the shoe or a grain of sand in the eye.
“My grandfather was one of the lucky few to come home,” Ebner said. “Grandpapa used to tell us stories of how even the trees—” He broke off. “Well, enough of that.”
“Yes, sir,” I said.
The commander leaned forward. “Now one of my units comes back a week late from what should’ve been a routine patrol saying that they were lost a half day’s ride from and in plain view of home, that there was a magical—a Faena!—where there’ve been none since before my greatgrandfather’s time, and that a trooper made a pact with it. After which this Faena showed said troop the way home. What do you think the Lord Commander will say to that?”
“Uh,” I said.
“Right.” Ebner sat back in his chair and I watched his mustache ruminate. Captain Suiden was staring at a candle. The garrison commander sighed again. “Well, there’s no help for it. We have to find out what’s going on.”
“Sir?”
“And since you’re the only one who has any knowledge of these Faena outside of old war stories and children’s tales, I’m sending you.”
“Me, sir?”
“Captain.”
“Sir,” Captain Suiden replied.
“You and your men will leave tomorrow morning and go back to where you found the magical.”
“Yes, sir.”
“There you will find out what it wants and report back to me.” Commander Ebner stood and we did likewise. “I trust your judgment, Suiden.” The commander’s mustache flattened against his cheeks. “Just don’t start another war. I don’t want to have to fight trees.”
Chapter Three
The trumpet awakened us all at sunrise and from three cots down I could smell Ryson, ripe from his tour of duty in the stables. Apparently he had fallen into bed without undressing.
As I rose and stumbled through my morning routine, I kept catching eyes on me. I hadn’t been pumped about my meeting with the commander and captain because Groskin took Suiden’s ban on visiting to extend to us gossiping, so the air was heavy with speculation, all aimed at me. Finally I took refuge from the covert glances by sitting back down on my cot and working through my morning prayers.
“Heed Captain!”
At the shout, I quickly finished and opening my eyes, stood. I wasn’t exactly the last but close enough to get the eye from Lieutenant Groskin, who had followed the troop captain into the room. I checked to see that my trousers were draped properly over my boots, and looked up in time to see the lieutenant suck in a deep breath.
“Lieutenant,” Captain Suiden said.
Groskin sputtered as the air escaped again.
“At ease,” Captain Suiden said. He waited until we were somewhat relaxed. “Our leave has been canceled.” It was the troop’s turn to suck air as we stared at our captain. He looked back, his brown eyes calm.
“You are to outfit for an extended tour. The mission’s parameters will be explained once we are en route. That is all. Lieutenant Groskin, with me.” They both left the building.
I went to my footlocker to start packing, ignoring the now outright stares from my mates.
“What the poxy hell is going on, Rabbit?” Jeffen whispered at me.
“I can’t talk about it, Jeff.” I bent over to open my locker.
“It’s about that damn feather, isn’t it?”
I straightened so fast I felt my spine pop and stared at Jeff. “You’ve been in my locker.”
“No. As if I didn’t see you with it. Bright red, Rabbit, just like the ones the magical had,” Jeff replied.