Shale looked from Richard back to the busts. She shook her head in disgust. “I fear to think what this tells us about the people who live here.”
At the end of the long passageway, farther away from the light of the high windows and lit only by candles, Richard realized that the hallway didn’t simply get dark, it actually ended in a dark opening, but not the kind of opening that went with the rest of the place. It was a hole crudely chiseled into the stone of the mountain the palace had been built into.
It looked like nothing so much as the rough opening into a mine. Or the underworld.
Unlike everything else he had seen in the palace that was ornate and highly detailed, this was merely a roughly round opening cut into the rock with crude tools used for excavation. The mountain lion vanished into that dark maw. He saw the tail flick up briefly, and then it was gone down into the darkness.
When they got close enough, they could see that there was a bit of flickering light inside from somewhere far down below. As Richard paused at the opening to try to see where the mountain lion had gone, he saw then that there were steps leading down.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Shale said. “We’re walking right into the heart of this trap.”
Richard turned back to her. “And how do you instead propose we free ourselves of that trap unless we face it and put an end to it?”
Shale’s features twisted unhappily. “I don’t know, but I don’t like it. There are remnants of a spell of some sort lingering here.”
Richard frowned at her. “What kind of spell? Can you tell?”
Shale shook her head. “It’s just a trace of something, but I can’t tell what.” She sniffed the air. She frowned. “I can sense them, but I can’t tell what sort of spells they might be. Whatever it is, it’s interfering with my sense of smell.”
“Well, we know that this trap was set with powerful magic,” Kahlan said, “so there are bound to be spells lingering about this place. Sometimes magic does that—leaves traces.”
Vika stepped ahead of him into the opening. “Rikka, Vale, come with me. The rest of you wait here. We will go down first and see if it’s safe.”
Richard gripped her arm and forcefully pulled her back before she could start down. “Are you out of your mind? Of course it’s not safe. Now, stay behind me.”
She looked so shocked by what he said that she did as he told her.
Richard started down with Kahlan at his side, expecting the rest of them to follow. Vika followed as close behind him as she could without stepping on his heels. Shale was right behind Kahlan. The others flowed down the steps behind them.
Only the first of the steps were carved well. On the way down, they soon became rough-hewn slabs in some places, and steps simply carved directly out of the stone of the mountain itself in others. Their uneven shape made footing treacherous. The treads and risers were different depths and heights, requiring care with every step they took. Sometimes it was a long stride and sometimes so short that they almost fell. Richard held on tightly to Kahlan’s hand as he held his other out behind to urge the others to be careful. He didn’t want them falling on top of him and Kahlan and causing them all to go tumbling down to somewhere far below.
As they cautiously descended the curving, irregular run of steps, he realized that the stairs followed the uneven excavation down along the rock walls. When they got farther down, he was finally able to see that they were descending to the edge of what was a vast, roughly circular chamber. He was astonished by how immense it was, both in width and height.
Like the opening above, the walls had been cut with excavation tools, leaving a rough, unfinished surface. It looked to Richard that in places on the walls great slabs of rock had collapsed down, actually aiding in the excavation. It resembled a mine more than a room, except that it was huge beyond any normal room, or any mine for that matter. He had seen chambers in natural caves that were this immense, but this was not a cave and not natural. He couldn’t imagine its purpose.
Rather than it getting darker, they began to see flickering firelight from below that helped them see the steps better. Keen to find out what this place was and what was going on, he had to force himself to be careful and not to hurry. The fact that it was a trap, with the mountain lion leading them into it, also tempered his urge to hurry.
He started to realize that this strange underground chamber had to actually be the true purpose of the palace. The place above was merely a façade. Like a man irresistibly drawn to a beautiful woman with an evil heart, Richard felt that he had first been charmed by the beauty of the palace architecture, but he was now being drawn to the evil heart of this place.
The stairs turned as they approached the bottom. He saw, then, that they were coming down behind enormous statues of ravens that were at least three times his height. Their wings were extended in front to hold stone bowls of flaming oil that provided light. The smell was similar to that of burning pitch. It also left a haze to settle in the cool air of the pit.
When they reached the bottom of the rough stairs, and they came around one of the ravens, he saw that there were more of the stone ravens all around the room in a circle, thirteen in all. They all faced inward to the center of the chamber.
Between and beyond the stone ravens, he could see that there were caverns all around the base of the room, going back into the stone of the mountain itself. Torches lit the tunneled passageways, but he couldn’t see what they led to.
Off in the middle of the room, he saw a line of intimidating people watching them approach. They were all women.
In the center of that line of silent women sat a tall, elegant throne. He could see the light from the burning pots dance and flare on the gold-leaf vines, snakes, cats, and other beasts carved into the arms and framing the tufted red velvet-covered back. A canopy draped with heavy red brocade and trimmed with gold tassels jutted out overhead, making an imposing statement.
The mountain lion sat beside the throne.
Richard had seen that throne before.
As he cautiously closed the distance, he recognized the woman sitting in the massive structure.
It was his mother.
21
Out of the corner of her eye, Kahlan saw Berdine’s jaw drop. “Mama?”
Rikka lifted an arm to point. “No, that’s my mother.”
Vale went to her knees as her eyes welled up with tears. “Mother? Is that really you?”
“This is impossible,” Shale whispered even as Kahlan knew that she, too, would be seeing her own mother.
When Nyda reached out in longing and started to rush ahead, Richard swept an arm around her waist and yanked her from her feet. He set her down behind him. Kahlan caught Rikka’s arm to stop her from going any farther.
“Everyone stay where you are,” Richard said in a commanding voice before any of the others could rush to the woman they all wrongly believed was their mother.
Most of the Mord-Sith looked in stunned confusion between the women and Richard. The woman sitting on the magnificent throne smiled benevolently. Kahlan knew that Richard, too, was seeing his mother. The only difference was, like Kahlan, Richard knew who this really was.
“Shota, stop it,” Richard called out in a voice that cut through the hiss of the burning lamp oil and echoed around the chamber.
Kahlan had been pretty sure for quite some time who it was that had been drawing them into this trap. Richard had known as well, but like her, he had not wanted to put words to that belief lest that somehow make it true. They had both hoped they were wrong, and that it would turn out to be something else.
Kahlan’s mother smiled, then, in a loving way, but Kahlan had already steeled herself against Shota’s cynical deception. This was a witch woman playing her games; it was not any of their mothers. She didn’t allow herself to let her emotions be twisted by what she knew to be an illusion.
Shale looked at Kahlan in wordless confusion.
“That spell you felt at the open
ing to this place?” Kahlan whispered to her.
“Yes? What of it?” Shale asked.
“It was to keep you from smelling witches.”
Realization swept away the confusion in her features.
“Shota,” Richard said again, “stop this cruel hoax.”
Once Shota saw that Richard and Kahlan weren’t about to play along, and that they weren’t going to let any of the others be sucked into the deception, she stood and descended the three platforms the throne sat atop.
Her variegated gray dress gently billowed as if lifted by a gentle breeze. When she caught one of the points of the skirt, it was as if the breeze died out and it settled down. As the dress went still, her fabricated looks also died out, melding back into the face of the witch woman Kahlan knew all too well. She was glad, at least, that Shota was no longer taunting her with the image of her mother.
Kahlan glanced at the women lined up to either side of the throne. Their piercing glares were chilling. Even though they all looked very different, they all radiated the same aura of mystery and danger.
A self-satisfied smile spread across Shota’s full, red lips. Her almond eyes sparkled with her smile. Kahlan had always thought of the stunning woman as a rose encrusted with ice crystals.
Shota glided across the room toward them, her eyes fixed on Richard the whole time. Kahlan found it irritating the way Shota had always acted a little too charming toward Richard. Richard, of course, didn’t respond to her charms, but it nonetheless irritated her.
“Cruel hoax?” Shota asked in her silky-smooth voice.
Kahlan had never thought it fair that a woman as beautiful as Shota should also have a voice that could charm a good spirit out of the underworld.
“My intent was merely to bring a cherished memory to life so that each of you could once more look upon your beloved mothers.” Shota arched an eyebrow. “How is that cruel? It was a gift created through great effort on my part.”
“Your intent was to bring each of us pain and to crush our hearts,” Richard said. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
She smiled reproachfully. “Richard, a Seeker needs his anger. If you will recall, I’ve warned you before not to let it cloud your judgment. And yet, it is a mistake you have made too often in the past.”
Richard didn’t go for the bait and instead glanced around. “What is this gloomy pit? Why aren’t you in Agaden Reach?”
Shota swept an arm around in a grand gesture as if to show him the massive room, all the while smiling at him. “This is my winter palace. Isn’t it splendid? Do you like it?”
Richard never took his eyes off her, the same way he wouldn’t take his eyes off any lethal threat. “Not really. I think I prefer the swamp you live in. It’s more honest.”
“Ah, well, the Reach is nice, I must admit,” Shota cooed. “But I come here to Bindamoon, on rare occasions, when I have important business to conduct.”
“We met the man you sent to welcome us,” Richard told her.
Shota’s brow twitched. “Man?”
“The bearded fellow with the gift. A gift he intended to use against us.”
Realization came over her features. “Ah.” Her expression soured. “Iron Jack.”
“That’s the one,” Richard said.
She flipped a hand dismissively. “A sycophant, a stooge. He fancies himself useful to me, thinking it will earn him favors. He is always trying to impress me. He doesn’t realize that he merely impresses me as a worthless freak. He is a bothersome little man.”
“He won’t be bothering you anymore,” Richard told her. “He’s dead.”
Shota shrugged as she smiled. “Good.”
Kahlan was a bit surprised by the reaction. She had thought that Shota had sent him. Richard didn’t mention that Iron Jack had been killed by the Glee.
Kahlan gestured, indicating the palace above them. “And so you have that place above, now, so that you can call yourself a queen? What are you queen of, exactly?”
Shota turned a cold look on Kahlan. “That is what the people in this place prefer to call me. Queen.”
Kahlan frowned. “Why?”
Shota regarded Kahlan with the kind of penetrating gaze that only added to her menace. Shota had never liked Kahlan, and she took every opportunity to make that clear.
Shota glanced down at Kahlan’s swollen pregnancy. It was not a look of approval. The witch woman’s perfect shape made Kahlan feel fat and ugly in comparison. Against her will, she could feel her face start to go red.
“They choose to call me the queen because they fear to say my name aloud.” The smile again spread on her lips, but failed to reach her eyes. She arched one eyebrow. “With good reason.”
Frowning, Shale leaned closer to Richard. “Mind telling me what’s going on?”
He held out an arm in introduction. “Shale, this is Shota, a witch woman Kahlan and I know all too well. Deluded by prophecy, she swore that if we ever dared to have children, she would kill them. That is the witch’s oath that all along has been at the center of everything. That is the true witch’s oath that has shadowed us, nearly gotten us killed, and in the end brought us here. The witch’s oath had never been created by Michec. It had been Shota’s all along.”
Shota smiled at Richard and bowed her head in recognition of him grasping Michec’s role. “He was a useful idiot.”
Shale looked baffled. “But why?”
“Because,” Richard said, “she fears our children. Isn’t that right, Shota?”
Shota’s eyes turned hot and dangerous. “I guess I can’t fool you, Seeker.”
Kahlan had noticed from the beginning that all the women to the sides of the throne were glaring right at her. She did her best not to look at them, but it was next to impossible not to. Each one was different, and each one, in her own way, looked intimidating.
Shota, annoyed that Shale had spoken before being spoken to, slowly stepped closer to her, her boot strikes echoing around the massive stone chamber. She came to a halt before Shale. She lifted her chin a little to look down her nose as she studied the sorceress’s face for a moment.
“Well, well, what have we here?” she asked as she leaned forward then to peer intently into Shale’s eyes. “A half-breed. How utterly revolting.” She straightened back up. “Had you any shame, my dear, you would have long ago killed yourself.” Shota’s disapproval turned again to a mocking smile. “Not to worry.” She cocked her head. “I will help with that when I’m finished with you.”
“I can only assume that you are responsible for the boundary that appeared to force us to come here,” Richard said to draw Shota’s attention away from the sorceress. “That means that you are responsible for the loss of any innocent lives of the people who have been killed when they walked into it without realizing what it was. I want that terrible boundary brought down right now.” Richard leaned toward Shota, fixing her in his raptor glare. “Right now.”
Shota shrugged. “As you wish.” She twirled a hand around overhead. “Done,” she said in a voice that might have been used to announce dinner was ready.
Richard looked a little surprised to have her so easily agree, and a little dubious that she had actually undone something of such massive power. More than that, though, he was not at all happy about the boundary being put up in the first place. “How many innocent people do you suppose you murdered with that thing?”
Shota regained her imperious attitude. “I regret the loss of any innocent lives, but it was unavoidable in order to prevent what would be a much greater loss of lives. So, in that sense, you two are actually the cause of such deaths.”
Richard continued to glare at her. “How do you figure that?”
Shota walked slowly to her ornate throne to stand for a moment as she gathered her thoughts.
She lifted a finger without looking back. “You saved me from the Keeper once.”
“And this is how you show your gratitude?” Richard asked in a rising, angry voice.
; After a moment, the witch woman turned and strolled back to stand before Richard and Kahlan. “I told you both that because of what you had done, I would be forever grateful. I meant it.”
She touched her fingertips to the side of Richard’s face. “I actually rather like you. You are a noble individual. You and the Mother Confessor both. You both have fought for the survival of your people, and in so doing fought for my survival as well. You have done good and brought peace to the world. For all that and more, I respect you both and wish you no harm.”
22
“So you decided to trap us here because you like us?” Richard asked. “You put lives of innocent people in danger because you like us? You more than likely caused the deaths of unwitting travelers because you like us?”
Shota gently gripped Richard’s throat as she glared with menace into his gray eyes. “I warned you that all the children a Confessor bears are Confessors. Over time it came to pass that most give birth only to girl children. I told you that if you give the Mother Confessor a child, it would be a boy, and that boy child would be a Confessor. Beyond that, even a girl child with Confessor power and the gift of a war wizard from two lines of wizards, one with Subtractive Magic, would be an abomination. I told you that for those reasons you must not have a child with this woman.”
“So you’re back to that, are you?” Richard folded his arms across his chest. “Back to the nonsense about prophecy?”
“It is hardly nonsense. Fathers wed to Confessors are supposed to have been taken by her power so that if by chance she happened to bear a boy, the husband would without question end its life. You changed all that by finding a way to be with her without being taken by her power. As a result, neither of you has the will or the strength to kill the tainted children the two of you conceive.”
She paused a moment as her grip on Richard’s throat tightened. “I have the will, I have the strength, and I am willing to use it. I gave you my word on that. I gave you a witch’s oath on that. And you both defied me.”
“It’s our lives,” Richard said in a surprisingly calm voice, as if trying to reason with her. “It’s our children’s lives. You have no dominion over any of our lives and no right to deny our children the right to live their lives. I will protect those children, as will Kahlan. We will teach them to be good people who care about others.”
Into Darkness Page 11