“Unfortunately, those powers apparently also settled into Hannis Arc and Ludwig Dreier,” Kahlan said.
Nicci gestured in frustration. “Great. So a man with those occult abilities came to be the very one running the prison meant to confine him.”
“More likely to execute him,” Kahlan said.
Richard looked back at the shackles pinned to the wall. He was beginning to get an idea. He just needed time to think it through. But there was no time. He needed to act before it was too late.
“I know that look,” Kahlan said. “What are you thinking? Get everyone out from below and do a lightning-quick attack?”
Richard’s mind was filled with the flow and form of the dance with death, the way of a war wizard. He was lost in that dance he had come to know so well.
“The threat we face is not one that will be helped with soldiers. For the moment, we need to leave them down there, out of the way. We need everyone in the citadel to think we are all still locked up and under control.”
Samantha’s hands fisted. “My mother is gifted. We need to get her out. She can help.”
“Samantha, calm down. I know how much you want to get her out, but I know what I’m talking about. We will get her out, I promise, but we first have to make it safe to do so. You need to trust me in this. You wouldn’t want to get her out only to have her killed because we failed to recognize the full extent what we face, would you?”
“Well, no, I guess not, but—”
“But nothing. Dreier possesses occult abilities. He has already proven that he can cut any gifted person down in a heartbeat. He put all of us and the men down before any of us knew what hit us. Your mother has no chance against him. None of us do.”
A devious smile spread on Nicci’s face. “I have some ideas.”
Richard was sure she did. Nicci was experienced at this sort of thing, at using her head rather than brawn. She also knew better than to try to use what they knew wouldn’t work.
“We need to act with surprise, swiftness, and violence,” Richard told all of them. “Capturing Dreier is the priority.”
Kahlan’s expression suddenly took an angry set. “Capture him! Richard, we can’t risk capturing him! And what would be the point? The best thing to do is what you said. Surprise, swiftness, and violence. We need to kill the bastard before he has a chance to strike back. With his abilities he could kill us all. We wouldn’t stand a chance of stopping him. We need to kill him, not capture him. Now we have the chance to surprise him and end the threat.”
“The threat from Dreier,” Richard said, “but what about the rest of it?”
“What about it?” Kahlan lifted her hands and let them flop down at her sides. “What can we do, Richard? We’re going to be dead from Jit’s poison before we have a chance to do anything else. We can at least kill Ludwig Dreier before we die. To be able to do anything else we would have to be cured.”
“Exactly.”
Richard smiled as he drew his sword. The ring of steel echoed around the stone dungeon.
Everyone looked puzzled as he turned. With a mighty swing, he struck the chain holding the collar that had been around his neck. As it cleaved the chain away at the wall, the blade sent hot fragments of steel flying through the room, some skittering along the floor, some rebounding off walls.
When the collar clattered to the floor, Richard picked it up by its short length of chain and held it up before the others. “This is a collar meant to contain the powers of the gifted.”
“Dreier has occult powers,” Kahlan pointed out. “Those are even more powerful than his gifted abilities.”
A grin spread on Nicci’s face. “But this place was made specifically to confine those with occult powers, not merely the gifted.”
“Right,” Richard said. “With this, we can capture Ludwig Dreier and keep him from using his power against us.”
Kahlan folded her arms, interested, but not yet convinced. “Why? It would be easier to kill him. What’s the point of going to the trouble of capturing him?”
“What kind of poison do we have in us?” he asked her.
Kahlan shrugged. “The call of death, from Jit.”
“Which is…?” Richard prompted.
Her eyes widened with understanding. “Caused by an occult power.”
“That’s right. Jit had occult powers. That’s what is infecting us.”
Nicci was smiling. “And Ludwig Dreier has occult powers. So, if we can capture him alive and hold him in that collar, maybe we can find out if there is a way to cure you two of that occult poison without a containment field.”
“It’s our only chance,” Richard said. “We have to try.”
“Even if you somehow get him in the collar,” Kahlan said, “how are you going to get him to cooperate?”
Cassia leaned in as she smiled in the chilling way that only Mord-Sith could smile. “You leave that part to us, Mother Confessor. We are Lord Rahl’s Mord-Sith now. We will get Dreier to cooperate.”
“With this sickness in me, my bond doesn’t work to power your Agiel,” Richard reminded them.
“No,” she agreed, the smile still in place, “but Dreier said that his occult abilities power our Agiel now, and the bond that powers them can’t be broken as long as he’s alive.”
“So,” Vale said, “we can use his own ability against him.”
“We’re going to do whatever it takes to protect Lord Rahl’s life,” Laurin added. “That is what Mord-Sith do. We will get him to talk. If there is a cure, he will tell us what he knows.”
Kahlan looked at the determination in their eyes. “Just leave him alive when you’re done so I can kill him.”
“You’ve got it, Mother Confessor,” Laurin said.
“He’s yours to kill,” Cassia agreed.
“But until then, he is ours,” Vale said with a gleam of menace in her eyes.
“Do any of you know where he sleeps?” Richard asked the three Mord-Sith.
They all shared a look.
“Oh yes, we know,” Cassia said. “It’s up on the third floor.”
“Lead the way,” Richard told her. “I’ll explain the plan on the way.”
“Gladly.”
“Is there a back way up to his bedroom?” he asked.
“Yes,” Cassia said. “Some of the doors are kept locked, though.”
Mohler held up the big ring of keys he carried. “Not a problem.”
“He has soldiers guarding his bedroom,” Laurin said. “Tonight he has Erika entertaining him, rather than one of us. He was eager to get to bed, so I doubt he will be asleep.”
“That means he will be distracted,” Richard said. “But this is still going to require stealth. All of you will need to do exactly as I say. Along the way I’m going to need some of you to stay behind to guard our backs. I don’t want any questioning or second-guessing. There won’t be time to explain or argue. We can’t have that if we are going to succeed and then get the others out of the dungeon. You will all need to do exactly as I say, when I say it, if this is going to work.”
He was directing his comments mostly at Samantha without looking at her because he didn’t want to sound like he was accusing her of something before she was guilty of it. But he also knew how she could be. He knew that he could count on the rest of them to follow instructions.
“If any of you have a problem with that, then you need to wait down here, otherwise you can come with me. Agreed?”
Everyone nodded.
CHAPTER
80
At an intersection of corridors, Richard took a quick look around the corner. He didn’t see anyone before quickly pulling back behind cover. The corridors, dimly lit by reflector lamps hung at regular intervals, were interior passageways, so there weren’t any windows.
Cassia had told him that the bedroom had windows. Since it was still night, they wouldn’t provide any light, but they were a possible escape route. Richard doubted, though, that if things went bad, Dreier wou
ld jump from the third floor.
“How much farther?” he asked.
Cassia took a careful look. “At the end of the corridor, the halls go to either the right or the left. The bedroom is to the right, at the end, but it’s not far. Like I explained, at the end of the hall that corridor opens up into a small rotunda right outside the bedroom. He keeps at least two soldiers there all the time. Sometimes more. Sometimes he stations eight or ten in the rotunda to stand guard. We won’t know for sure until we make the final turn toward the bedroom.”
“With Erika in the room with him,” Nicci said, “he might not feel the need for more.”
Mohler shook his head. “They aren’t for protection. The abbot is sufficiently powerful to handle any threat himself. I think he likes to have the men there for show—as a display of his importance.”
Cassia made a sour face. “He has them there because they can overhear what is going on in the bedroom. Dreier commands the women he takes in there to be noisy so that the soldiers outside the door will hear. He knows they will gossip about what they heard. He thinks it makes for an impressive image among the soldiers.”
Vale was nodding. “He’s a pig.”
“All right, Mohler, Samantha, Laurin, Vale, and Kahlan, you five wait here.” Richard pointed at the two Mord-Sith and Samantha. “You three protect the Mother Confessor. I’m counting on you. If for some reason Dreier gets past us, this is his likely way out. You will have to stop him and protect Kahlan if he comes this way. Mohler, do you have the collar ready?”
They all nodded. The scribe held up the collar by the chain, as if he were holding up a dead varmint by its tail. Richard took the collar in his left hand, balling up most of the chain in his fist to keep it from making any noise.
“You ready for this, Cassia?”
She flashed him a cunning smile. “You have no idea.”
Kahlan caught his arm. “Richard, are you sure about this? It seems too simple.”
“Sometimes simple is the best approach to a fight. Complicated plans have more to go wrong. We will only have one chance before he uses his powers. Simplicity, speed, and violence of action is our best chance.”
Kahlan leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “If anyone can do it, you three can.”
“All right, let’s go,” Richard said to Nicci and Cassia. “Keep it quiet. You both know what to do.”
Richard already had his sword out so that he wouldn’t have to draw it anywhere near the bedroom. He knew that the ringing sound of pulling the blade would carry in the confines of the corridors. He didn’t know how good the guards were, if they were really listening for the sound of any threat in the halls, or if they were instead listening to the sounds from the bedroom, but he didn’t want to take any chances with making an unnecessary noise. They had to remain undetected until the last instant.
Around the corner, the hallway was empty. The long, dark blue carpet running down the length of the hall muffled the sounds of their footsteps as they moved swiftly along the hall. The three of them slipped carefully around a long table against the wall that held two empty glass bowls. Small tapestries hung in several places, further helping to quiet any sound they made.
When they reached the end of the corridor before the intersection, Richard squatted down with the other two. When he gave her the signal, Cassia lay down on her belly and carefully crawled to the corner. She stretched her neck so that she was just able to peek around the edge.
She pulled back and held up two fingers.
Richard let out a sigh of relief. That made it easier for Nicci to do the first part. Once they started, they needed to be quick. Nicci set down what she had been carrying.
Cassia backed away from the corner and stood. She unfastened buttons and the black leather straps, turned away from Richard, and then pulled the top of her outfit down to her waist. She looked over her bare shoulder and gave him a nod that she was ready.
With two fingers, Richard signaled for her to go.
Cassia boldly walked around the corner and off toward the bedroom. All the guards knew the three Mord-Sith, and knew that they frequently went to Ludwig Dreier’s bedroom to be with him. She walked deliberately, as if she had been summoned.
When Richard and Nicci heard Cassia tell the guards “Lord Dreier sent for me,” Nicci stepped around the corner.
Without pause, the sorceress thrust both arms out, palms facing outward.
When Richard heard the two thumps, he knew that Nicci had stopped their hearts and both men were dead. Death was so swift they hadn’t cried out. They probably hadn’t even seen Nicci.
Richard handed her what she had brought. Nicci leaned out around the corner again and with her gift sent it silently floating down the hall, the way Richard had seen Zedd float rocks through the air. He hoped she would have enough control to keep it from hitting a wall, to say nothing of holding it stationary for a time and then at last hitting the target. Nicci had acted like it was a foolish question, but he didn’t know how to use his gift to do such a thing so he would have no way of judging the difficulty.
He had to trust that Nicci knew what she was talking about.
Richard heard Cassia knock on the bedroom door.
The corridor remained silent. Richard took a quick peek. The two soldiers were slumped dead on the floor to either side of the white, double door. A number of reflector lamps lit the rotunda. Cassia stood facing the door, her breasts exposed to get Dreier’s immediate attention, as they had the guards’. They needed him to keep his eyes on Cassia, and not look to the side.
Cassia knocked again.
Richard heard the door open.
“What is it?” It was Dreier’s voice. “Oh…”
Nicci immediately sent the stone block sailing in at him.
The instant Richard heard the sound of stone hitting the man’s skull, he was around the corner, racing the rest of the distance.
As he ran in at full speed, sword in one hand, collar in the other, Richard kicked the round table in the middle of the room aside. The table crashed against the wall and shattered.
Dreier was on his knees, bent forward, his head almost touching the floor. He was naked. Both hands clutched his bloody head as he moaned, sounding dazed and confused. The heavy stone block Nicci had sent flying in at him lay off to the side.
Richard slid to a stop on his knees just as Cassia threw a leg around Dreier to straddle his back. She grabbed his thick hair in a fist and pulled up on his head. His hands fell to his sides. Blood pouring from a long gash back across his scalp ran down the side of his head, turning an ear and his neck red.
As soon as Cassia had pulled Dreier’s head up, Richard pushed the collar around his neck and slammed it closed. It made a clang that echoed through the hall.
Dreier was so groggy from the blow to his head that he didn’t even know what had happened. He was like a rag doll, and offered no resistance.
The other two Mord-Sith, having heard the sound of the stone hitting the man’s skull and the clang of the metal collar locking closed, came around the corner at a dead run.
Erika, also naked but for the Agiel in her fist, ran out toward the hall and skidded to a halt before she ran into Dreier, still slumped on the floor, now holding the loose flap of scalp up onto his head to cover the wound.
Sword in hand, Richard stood. Erika smiled at him over the top of her stricken master. Richard knew that she expected him to try to use the sword against her and then she could capture him by capturing its magic.
Richard instead slid the sword back in its sheath. “Sorry, but I’ve done that dance before. I’m not going to do it again.”
Vale and Laurin came up on either side of her. They had their Agiel in their fists as well.
“Your choice,” Richard said. “Surrender, or tangle with my Mord-Sith.”
Her brow twitched. “Your Mord-Sith? Who do you think—”
Laurin jabbed her Agiel into Erika’s kidney. The woman cried out as she d
ropped to a knee.
“If you would like, we can take turns doing this to you all night,” Laurin said. “I suggest you get dressed instead, Erika.”
Cassia held out her hand. “Give me your Agiel, first.”
Erika reluctantly handed it over before going back into the room. Richard followed her in to get Dreier’s clothes. He found them thrown over the back of a chair.
When he picked up the purple robes Dreier had been wearing, Richard felt an odd lump. He groped the robes and found a concealed pocket on the inside at the waist. With a finger, he fished out something small and flat.
He was surprised to see a journey book. He opened the black leather cover to see what it said.
Nicci looked as surprised as Richard. “Well?” she asked.
“Nothing in it,” he told her. “Wiped clean.”
She nodded. “A lot of the Sisters wiped theirs clean as a precaution. Others liked to preserve the messages in case they needed confirmation of instructions, or to remember certain things, or even as proof that they were acting on orders.”
Richard sighed as he slipped the blank journey book into his pocket. “Unfortunately, this one tells us nothing.”
Nicci gave him a meaningful look. “I’d sure like to check its twin.”
“Me too,” he said. “But I have no idea who might have it.”
When he came out of the bedroom carrying the robes, he found Kahlan glaring down at the stuporous prisoner on the floor. “He had better prove useful.”
“Nicci may need to heal him first,” Richard said. “I think she might have cracked his skull.”
Samantha briefly stared down at the naked man. “Can we please go get my mother out of that dungeon, now?”
“Of course,” Richard said. “We need to get Commander Fister and the men out as well. They need to get the citadel guard under control or we will soon have trouble.”
“I can handle any who cause trouble,” Nicci said. “Samantha or her mother could as well.”
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