Naked Empire

by Angreal

  The Order had to come across the mountains if they were to conquer D'Hara. There were few ways across those formidable mountains.

  Verna and the Sisters had shielded and sealed those passes as well as it was possible to seal them. They had used magic to bring down walls of rock in places, making the narrow roads impassable. In other places, they had used their power to cleave away roads cut into the steep sides of mountains, leaving no way through, except to clamber over rubble. To prevent that, and in other places, the men had worked all winter constructing stone walls across the passes. Atop those walls were fortifications from which they could rain down death on the narrow passes below. Additionally, in every one of those places, the Sisters had set snares of magic so deadly that coming through would be a bloody ordeal that would only get worse, and that was before they encountered the walls lined with defenders.

  Jagang had Sisters of the Dark to try to undo the barriers of both magic and stone, but Verna was more powerful, in the Additive anyway, than any of them. Besides that, she had joined her power with other Sisters in order to invest in those barriers magic that she knew would prove formidable.

  Still, Jagang would come. Nothing Verna, her Sisters, and the D'Haran army could do would ultimately be able to withstand the numbers Jagang would throw at them. If he had to command his men to march through passes filled a hundred feet deep with their fallen comrades, he would not flinch from doing so. Nor would it matter to him if the corpses were a thousand feet deep.

  "I'll be back a little later, Verna," the general said. "We'll need to get the officers and some of the Sisters together and make sure everything is ready."

  "Yes, of course," Verna said.

  Both General Meiffert and Rikka started to leave.

  "Rikka," Verna called. She gestured down at the desk. "Take the dear departed Sister with you, would you please?"

  Rikka sighed, which nearly spilled her bosom out of the dress. She made a long-suffering face before snatching up the head and vanishing out of the tent behind the general.

  Verna sat down and put her head in her hands. It was going to start all over again. It had been a long and peaceful, if bitterly cold, winter. Jagang had made his winter encampment on the other side of the mountains, far enough away that, with the snow and cold, it was difficult to launch effective raids against his troops. Just as it had the summer before, the summer Warren had died, now that the weather was favorable, the Order would begin to move. It was starting all over again. The killing, the terror, the fighting, running, hunger, exhaustion.

  But what choice was there, other than to be killed. In many ways, life had come to seem worse than death.

  Verna abruptly remembered, then, about the journey book. She worked it out of the pocket in her belt and pulled the lamp closer, needing the comfort as well as the light. She wondered where Richard and Kahlan were, if they were safe, and she thought, too, about Zedd and Adie all alone guarding the Wizard's Keep. Unlike everyone else, at least Zedd and Adie were safe and at peace where they were—for the time being, anyway. Sooner or later, D'Hara would fall and then Jagang would return to Aydindril.

  Verna tossed the small black book on the desk, smoothed her dress beneath her legs, and scooted her chair closer. She ran her fingers over the familiar leather cover on an object of magic that was over three thousand years old. The journey books had been invested with magic by those mysterious wizards who so long ago had built the Palace of the Prophets. A journey book was twinned, and as such, they were priceless; what was written in one appeared at the same time in its twin. In that way, the Sisters could communicate over vast distances and know important information as it happened, rather than weeks or even months later.

  Ann, the real Prelate, had the twin to Verna's.

  Verna, herself, had been sent by Ann on a journey of nearly twenty years to find Richard. Ann had known all along where Richard had been. It was for that reason that Verna could understand Kahlan's rage at how Ann had seemed to twist her and Richard's life. But Verna had come to understand that the Prelate had sent her on what was actually a mission of vital importance, one that had brought change to the world, but also brought hope for the future.

  Verna opened the journey book, holding it a little sideways to see the words in the light.

  Verna, Ann wrote, I believe I have discovered where the prophet is hiding.

  Verna sat back in surprise. After the palace had been destroyed, Nathan, the prophet, had escaped their control and had since been roaming free, a profound danger.

  For the last couple of years, the rest of the Sisters of the Light had believed that the Prelate and the prophet were dead. Ann, when she'd left the Palace of the Prophets with Nathan on an important mission, had feigned their deaths and named Verna Prelate to succeed her. Very few people other than Verna, Zedd, Richard, and Kahlan knew the truth. During that mission, however, Nathan had managed to get his collar off and escape Ann's control. There was no telling what catastrophe that man could cause.

  Verna leaned over the journey book again.

  I should have Nathan within days, now. I can hardly believe that after all this time, I nearly have my hands on that man. I will let you know soon.

  How are you, Verna? How are you feeling? How are the Sisters and how go matters with the army? Write when you can. I will be checking my journey book nightly. I miss you terribly.

  Verna sat back again. That was all there was. But it was enough. The very notion of Ann finally capturing Nathan made Verna's head swim with relief.

  Even that momentous news, though, failed to do much to lift her mood. Jagang was about to launch his attack on D'Hara and Ann was about to finally have Nathan under control, but Richard was somewhere off to the south, beyond their control. Ann had worked for five hundred years to shape events so that Richard could lead them in the battle for the future of mankind, and now, on the eve of what could very well prove to be that final battle, he was not there with them.

  Verna drew the stylus out of the journey book's spine and leaned over to write Ann a report.

  My dearest Ann, I'm afraid that things here are about to become very unpleasant.

  The siege of the passes into D'Hara is about to begin.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 20

  The sprawling corridors of the People's Palace, seat of power in D'Hara, were filled with the whisper of footsteps on stone. Ann pushed herself back a little on the white marble bench where she sat stuffed between three women on one side and an older couple on the other, all gossiping about what people were wearing as they strolled the grand halls, or what other people did while they were here, or what they most wanted to see. Ann supposed that such gossip was harmless enough and probably meant to take people's minds off the worries of the war. Still, it was hard to believe that at such a late hour people would rather be out gossiping than in a warm bed asleep.

  Ann kept her head down and pretended to be pawing through her travel bag while at the same time keeping a wary eye on the soldiers passing not too far away as they patrolled. She didn't know if her caution was necessary, but she would rather not find out too late that it was.

  "Come from far?" the closest woman beside her asked.

  Ann looked up, realizing that the woman had spoken to her. "Well, yes, I guess it has been a bit of a journey."

  Ann put her nose back in her bag and rummaged in earnest, hoping to be left alone.

  The woman, middle-aged with her curls of brown hair just starting to carry a bit of gray, smiled. "I'm not all that far from home, myself, but I do so like to spend a night at the palace, now and then, just to lift my spirits."

  Ann glanced around at the polished marble floors, the glossy red stone columns below arches, decorated with carved vines, that supported the upper balconies. She gazed up at the skylights that allowed the light to flood in the place during the day, and peered off at the grand statues that stood on pedestals around a fountain with life-sized stone horses galloping forever through a shimmering spra
y of water.

  "Yes, I see what you mean," Ann murmured.

  The place didn't lift her spirits. In fact, the place made her as nervous as a cat in a doghouse with the door closed. She could feel that her power was frighteningly diminished in this place.

  The People's Palace was more than any mere palace. It was a city all joined together and under countless roofs atop a huge plateau. Tens of thousands of people lived in the magnificent structure, and thousands more visited it daily. There were different levels to the palace itself, some where people had shops and sold goods, others where officials worked, some that were living quarters. Many sections were off limits to those who visited.

  Sprawled around the base of the plateau were informal markets where people gathered to buy, sell, and trade goods. On the climb all the way up through the interior of the plateau to reach the palace itself, Ann had passed many permanent shops. The palace was a center of trade, drawing people from all over D'Hara.

  More than that, though, it was the ancestral home of the House of Rahl. As such, it was grand for arcane reasons beyond the awareness or even understanding of most of the people who called it home or visited it. The People's Palace was a spell—not a place spelled, as had been the Palace of the Prophets where Ann had spent most of her life. The place itself was the spell.

  The entire palace had been built to a careful and precise design: that of a spell drawn on the face of the ground. The outer fortified walls contained the actual spell form and the major congregations of rooms formed significant hubs, while the halls and corridors themselves were the drawn lines—the essence of the spell itself, the power.

  Like a spell being drawn in the dirt with the point of a stick, the halls would have had to have been built in the sequence required by the specific magic the spell was intended to invoke. It would have been enormously expensive to build it in that manner, ignoring the typical requirements of construction and accepted methods of the trade of building, but only by doing so would the spell work, and work it did.

  The spell was specific. It was a place of safety for any Rahl. It was meant to give a Rahl more power in the place, and to leach power away from anyone else who entered. Ann had never been in a place where she felt such a waning of her Han, the essence of life and the gift within. She doubted that in this place her Han would for long be vital enough to light a candle.

  Ann's jaw dropped in astonishment as another element of the spell abruptly occurred to her. She looked out at the halls—part of the lines of the spell—filled with people.

  Spells drawn with blood were always more effective and powerful. But when the blood soaked into the ground, decomposed, and dissipated, the power of the spell would often fade as well. But this spell, the drawn lines of the spell itself—the corridors—were filled with the vital living blood of all the people moving through them. Ann was struck dumb with awe at such a brilliant concept.

  "So, you're renting a room, then."

  Ann had forgotten the woman beside her, still staring at her, still holding the smile on her painted lips. Ann forced herself to close her mouth.

  "Well..." Ann finally admitted, "I haven't actually made arrangements yet as to where I will sleep."

  The woman's smile persisted, but it looked as if it was taking more and more effort all the time. "You can't curl up on a bench, you know. The guards won't allow it. You have to rent a room, or be put out at night."

  Ann understood, then, what the woman was driving at. To these people, most dressed in their finest clothes for their visit to the palace, Ann must look like a beggar in their midst. After all the gossip about what people were wearing, this woman must have been disconcerted to find herself beside Ann.

  "I have the price of a room," Ann assured her. "I just haven't found where they are, yet, that's all. After such a long journey, I meant to go there right away and get myself cleaned up, but I just needed to rest my weary feet for a bit, first. Could you tell me where to find the rooms to rent?"

  The smile looked a little easier. "I'm off to my own room and I could take you. It isn't far."

  "That would be kind of you," Ann said as she rose now that she saw the guards moving off down the corridor.

  The woman stood, bidding her two benchmates a good night.

  If Ann was tired, it was only from being caught up in the afternoon devotion to the Lord Rahl. A bell in an open square had tolled, and everyone had moved to gather there and bow down. Ann had noticed then that no one missed the devotion. Guards moved among the crowd watching people gather. She felt like a mouse being watched by hawks so she joined with the other people moving toward the square.

  She had spent nearly two hours on her knees, on a hard clay tile floor, bowed down with her forehead touching the ground like everyone else, repeating the devotion in concert with all the other somber voices.

  Master Rahl guide us. Master Rahl teach us. Master Rahl protect us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours.

  Twice a day, those in the palace were expected to go to the devotion. Ann didn't know how people endured such torture.

  Then she remembered the bond between the Lord Rahl and his people that prevented the dream walker from entering their minds, and she knew how they could endure it. She, herself, had briefly been a prisoner of Emperor Jagang. He murdered a Sister right before her eyes, just to make a point.

  In the face of brutality and torture, she guessed that she knew how people endured a mere devotion.

  For her, though, such a spoken devotion to the Lord Rahl, to Richard, was hardly necessary. She had been devoted to him for nearly five hundred years before he had even been born.

  Prophecy said that Richard was their only chance to avoid catastrophe. Ann peered carefully around the halls. Now she just needed the prophet himself.

  "This way," the woman said, tugging at Ann's sleeve.

  The woman gestured for Ann to follow her down a hallway to the right. Ann pulled her shawl forward, covering the pack she carried, and hugged her travel bag closer as she followed along the wide corridor. She wondered how many people sitting on benches and low marble walls around fountains were gossiping about her.

  The floor had a dizzying pattern of dark brown, rust, and pale tan-colored stone running across the hall in zigzag lines meant to look three-dimensional. Ann had seen such traditional patterns before, down in the Old World, but none of this grand scale. It was a work of art, and it was but the floor. Everything about the palace was exquisite.

  Shops were set back under a mezzanine to each side. Some of them looked to sell items travelers might want. There was a variety of small food and drink stands, everything from hot meat pies, to sweets, to ale, to warm milk. Some places sold nightclothes. Others sold hair ribbons. Even at this late hour, some of the shops were still open and doing brisk business. In a place such as this, there would be people who worked at night and would have need of such shops. The places that offered to do up a woman's hair, or paint her face, or promised to do wonders with her fingernails, were all closed until morning. Ann doubted they could pull off wonders with her.

  The woman cleared her throat as they strolled down the broad corridor, gazing at the shops to each side. "And where have you traveled from?"

  "Oh, far to the south. Very far." Ann took note of the woman's focused attention as she leaned in a bit. "My sister lives here," Ann said, giving the woman something more to chew on. "I'm here to visit my sister. She advises Lord Rahl on important matters."

  The woman's eyebrows lifted. "Really! An advisor to Lord Rahl himself. What an honor for your family."

  "Yes," Ann drawled. "We're all proud of her."

  "What does she advise him on?"

  "Advise him on? Oh, well, matters of war."

  The woman's mouth fell open. "A woman? Advising Lord Rahl on warfare?"

  "Oh yes," Ann insisted. She leaned over and whispered, "She's a sorceress. Sees into the future, you know
. Why, she wrote me a letter and told me she saw me coming to the palace for a visit. Isn't that amazing?"

  The woman frowned a bit. "Well, that does seem rather remarkable, since here you are and all."

  "Yes, and she told me that I'd meet a helpful woman."

  The woman's smile returned, it again looked forced. "She sounds to be quite talented."

  "Oh, you have no idea," Ann insisted. "She is so specific in her forecasts about the future."

  "Really? Had she anything else to say about your visit, then? Anything specific?"

  "Oh yes indeed. Why, do you know that she told me I would meet a man when I came here?"

  The woman's gaze flicked around the halls. "There are a lot of men here. That hardly seems very specific. Surely, she must have said more than that... I mean, if she is so talented, and an advisor to Lord Rahl and all."

  Ann put a finger to her lip, frowning in feigned effort at recollection. "Why, yes, she did, now that you mention it. Let's see if I can remember..." Ann laid a hand on the woman's arm in a familiar manner. "She tells me about my future all the time. My sister is always telling me so many things about my future in her letters that I sometimes feel as if I'm having trouble catching up with my own life! I sometimes have trouble remembering it all."

  "Oh do try," the woman said, eager for the gossip. "This is so fascinating."

  Ann returned the finger to her lower lip as she gazed at the ceiling, pretending to be engaged in deep thought, and noticed for the first time that the ceiling was painted like the sky, with clouds and all. The effect was quite clever.

  "Well," Ann finally said when she was sure she had the woman's full attention, "my sister said that the man I would meet was old." She returned the hand to the woman's arm. "But very distinguished. Not old and decrepit, but tall—very tall—with a full head of white hair that comes all the way down to his broad shoulders. She said that he would be clean-shaven, and that he would be ruggedly handsome, with penetrating dark azure eyes."