“Zedd,” Rikka said, “are you all right?”
“I think so,” he managed. “You?”
Rikka grunted with a note of displeasure. “They were certainly ready for us. Whatever she did kept me from being able to stop her.”
“Well, don’t feel bad, she did the same to me.”
“With you unconscious all those soldiers were more than I could handle,” Tom added. “Sorry, Zedd, but I let you down when you needed me the most. I should have been the steel against steel for you.”
Zedd squinted up at the man. “Don’t be silly. Steel has its limits. It was I who shouldn’t have allowed us to be taken in such a way. I should have known better and been prepared for it.”
“I guess we all failed,” Rikka said.
“Worse, we failed Richard. We didn’t even make it into the cave to help him. We need to get into the cave to break that spell keeping him from his gift.”
“Not much hope of that, now,” Rikka said.
“We’ll see about that,” Zedd grumbled. “At least it appears we’re safe for the moment.”
“Unless Six returns to finish us.”
Zedd peered up at the man. “You’re a comfort.”
With the help of both of them pulling on his arms, Zedd sat up. “Where are we, anyway?” he asked as he looked around in the dim light.
“Some sort of prison room,” Tom said. “The walls are entirely stone, except for the door. The hallway outside is filled with guards.”
It wasn’t especially large. A lantern burned on a small table. There was a single chair. Other than that the room was barren.
“The ceiling is beams and planks,” Zedd observed. “I wonder if I could breach them with my power, enough for us to sneak out of here.”
With their help he staggered to his feet. Rikka steadied him as he lifted an arm to use his gift to probe the ceiling.
“Bags,” he muttered. “When she used that constructed spell she also put some kind of barrier around this room. It keeps me from breaching it with my gift. We’re sealed in.”
“Something else,” Tom said. “The guards are mostly Imperial Order soldiers. It appears that Six is working on the same side as Jagang.”
Zedd scratched his scalp. “Great, that’s all we need.”
“At least she didn’t kill us,” Tom offered.
“Yet,” Rikka added.
Zedd squinted as he looked up at the ceiling. He pointed. “What’s that?”
“What?” Tom said, looking up.
“That there. At the edge of the ceiling, up against the wall. There is something wedged between that last beam and the top of the wall.”
Tom pulled the chair over and used it to reach the dark bundle hidden in the shadow of the beam. He tugged on it until it suddenly fell to the floor. Some of the things inside tumbled out.
“Dear spirits,” Zedd said, “that’s Richard’s pack.”
He recognized some of the things that had fallen out. He bent to right the pack, inspecting the clothes briefly before stuffing them back inside the pack.
When he lifted the black shirt trimmed in gold and returned it to the pack, he spotted a book lying on the floor. He picked it up, squinting in the dim light of the lantern.
“What sort of book is it?” Rikka asked.
Tom leaned closer to see. “What does it say?”
Zedd could hardly believe what he was seeing. “The title says Secrets of a War Wizard’s Power.”
Rikka let out a low whistle.
“My sentiment as well,” Zedd muttered as he inspected the front and back covers. “Where in the world would Richard have gotten such a thing? This could be invaluable.”
“What does it say about his powers?” Rikka asked, as if eager for gossip.
Zedd opened the cover and turned over a page, then another. He blinked in surprise.
“Dear spirits . . .” he murmured in astonishment.
Nicci looked up when she saw a shadow fill the doorway. It was Cara.
“How are you doing?” the Mord-Sith asked in a quiet voice that seemed to get lost in the somber room.
Nicci’s gaze wandered off to stare into space. She couldn’t really see the relevance of the question. She supposed that Cara was just trying to find something to say, something that reflected her genuine concern. It struck Nicci as tragic that a Mord-Sith would come to finally possess such simple, decent qualities when it was too late to matter.
“I don’t know anymore, Cara.”
“Have you figured out what went wrong?”
Nicci looked up from the padded leather chair she was in. “What went wrong? Isn’t it pretty obvious?”
Cara stepped closer and idly stroked a finger along the other side of the mahogany table. In the dimly lit library her red leather stood out like a splash of blood.
“But Lord Rahl will find a way back.”
It sounded to Nicci like a plea rather than a statement.
“Cara, if Richard was coming back he would have been back ten days ago,” Nicci said in a dejected voice, unable to summon a lie. Cara deserved more than to have the truth obscured with the deceit of false hope.
“Well, maybe it took longer than the two of you thought it would take.”
Nicci wished it were that simple. She shook her head. “He should have been back by the next morning. Since he never returned that means he didn’t survive what he—”
“But he has to come back!” Cara shouted as she leaned over the table, unwilling to allow Nicci to finish such a thought.
Nicci watched the anxiety on Cara’s face for a moment. What was there to say? How could she explain such a thing to a person who didn’t really understand the things that were involved?
“Believe me, Cara,” Nicci said at last. “I want him to return just as much as you do, but if he was able to survive the spell and the journey to the underworld, he would have been back long ago. He couldn’t stay there this long.”
“Why not?”
“You might say that it’s a little like diving to the bottom of a lake. You can hold your breath for a time, but you need to come back out of the water within a certain amount of time. If you get your foot caught under a log at the bottom of the water, you will drown. He couldn’t survive there this long. Since he didn’t return when he should have . . .”
“Well, maybe he came out somewhere else. Maybe he came up for air in another place.”
Nicci shook her head. “Imagine that the lake is covered with ice. The hole he went through—that’s the spells in the sorcerer’s sand—is the only way back out. The boxes of Orden are a gateway. This part of it was using elements of Orden, of that gateway. The underworld is just emptiness.”
She knew she was getting tangled up trying to make it understandable to Cara. Nicci didn’t even fully grasp the nature of the underworld herself. “Let’s just say that if he tried to come up somewhere else under the ice of the frozen lake, he couldn’t break through. He needs to come back through that hole he cut, the hole he created into the underworld, through the gateway. Does that make any sense?”
“In a way, but it should have worked.” She gestured to all the books lying open all over the table. “The two of you had it all figured out. Darken Rahl did it. There is no reason this wouldn’t have worked just the same. There’s no reason it shouldn’t have worked for Richard just as well.”
Nicci looked away from Cara’s intent blue eyes. “Yes, there is.”
Cara straightened. “What do you mean? What reason?”
“The beast.”
Cara stared for a long moment. “The beast. You think the beast might have found him there, in the underworld?”
Nicci shook her head. “No. The beast found him here, in this world, as he drew the spell. When Richard finally went through that gateway he’d created, it was waiting and ready. The beast followed him into the underworld.”
Cara’s expression was somewhere between horrified and enraged. “But he would have fought it.”
Nicci looked up from under her brow. “How?”
“I don’t know. I’m no expert on such things.”
“Neither is Richard. In the underworld it would be different than here. In the past he used his sword or the shields to stop it. When the beast appeared the last time, he was able to shoot it with one of those special arrows. What was he going to do to fight it in the underworld? He had to go naked. He had no weapons, no way to fight it.”
Cara’s expression tipped toward enraged. “Then why would you allow him to go?”
“He had already gone into the underworld when I saw the beast. It went down after him. There was simply no way to stop the beast or even to warn Richard.”
“There had to be some way you could have stopped him.”
Nicci stood. “Going to the underworld is something he had to do if he was to have had a chance to use the power of Orden. Without going he can’t counter Chainfire and if he can’t counter Chainfire we’re all lost. Besides, I couldn’t have stopped him if I wanted to.”
Cara paced before the table. “But it’s going to be the new moon in a few days. We’re running out of time. There has to be something you can try. There has to be a chance that he’s still trapped there, holding his breath. Lord Rahl has never given up on us. Lord Rahl would fight with his last breath for us.”
Nicci nodded as she stepped around the table. “You’re right. I’ll go back to the Garden of Life and cast some calling spells.”
She knew it was a silly idea. She knew that such a thing was not only impossible, but a waste of time. Still, she felt like she needed to do something or she would go mad, and it would at least make Cara feel better until the end came. Besides, what else was there to do, now.
“Good idea,” Cara said. “Do some calling spells until you pull Lord Rahl back.”
Out in the hallway, Nicci saw that in both directions it was blocked off by men of the First File. They each had a crossbow armed with a red-fletched bolt. It looked like the men were deliberately sealing off the library area.
Nicci saw the top of Nathan’s head of white hair as he made his way through the dense wall of men. The prophet finally stepped through all the soldiers. Spotting Nicci, he immediately headed toward her.
His face looked more than grim. Just seeing the look on his face made Nicci’s mouth go dry.
“Nathan, what is it?” she asked as he came to an abrupt halt before her.
His azure eyes looked tired. “I’m sorry, Nicci, but this is the only way.”
Nicci blinked in confusion. She glanced briefly to the soldiers standing shoulder-to-shoulder across the hallway. They, too, looked bleak about being there.
“What is the only way?” she asked.
He looked away from her eyes to wipe a weary hand across his face. “Richard and I had an earnest talk before he left on his dangerous journey. He told me that if he failed to return I should do what must be done to save the people here from the horrors Jagang would set loose upon them. Without Richard, prophecy says that we will lose in this final battle.”
“We have always known that.”
“I know a thing or two about going to the underworld, Nicci. I am familiar with the spell-forms he used. I’ve been up to the Garden of Life. I’ve studied the things he did. Richard got it all correct. It should have worked.”
“The beast chased him into the underworld,” Cara said.
Nathan sighed heavily, but didn’t look all too surprised. “I figured it had to be something like that. The thing is, I’ve studied the methods Richard used.”
Cara appeared hopeful that the prophet could offer an answer that Nicci couldn’t provide. “Good. Have you figured out a way to get him back from the underworld? Nicci’s going to cast calling webs. Maybe you could help her. The two of you together . . .”
Her voice trailed off. Nathan didn’t look in the mood to entertain such nonsense.
“There is no such thing, Cara. We can’t get him back from the underworld after this amount of time. Richard is lost to us.”
Cara blinked away tears, unable to abide such a proclamation.
“The emperor is going to get in here,” Nathan said. “It’s only going to be a matter of time. The great void will shortly be upon us. All we can do now is hope to spare as many people in the palace as possible.”
Nicci held up her chin. “I understand.”
“The only way to do that is to surrender the palace as soon as the new moon arrives—and to do it in the way that Jagang has demanded.”
Nicci swallowed. “I can’t say that I know any other way, Nathan.”
“I’m sorry, Nicci.” His voice revealed just how sincere his words were. “But I need to prepare a number of things, so I’m going to have to put you under arrest and have you securely locked up until Jagang comes on the new moon to collect you.”
Nicci felt a tear roll down her cheek, not for herself, but for the loss of Richard to all the people who had been depending on him to turn the tide, to fight the final battle, to at last do what only Richard could do.
“You don’t need all the guards with those arrows.” She managed to keep her voice from breaking. “I will go peacefully.”
Nathan nodded. “Thank you for not making this any more difficult than it already is.”
Chapter 56
Kahlan woke in a flash of icy fright.
She was lying slightly on her right side, her head turned all the way to the right, her jaw lying against the pillow of a saddlebag. She took a careful peek through the narrow slits of her eyelids. The overcast was just blushing with a hint of the approaching dawn.
While she hadn’t known why she’d awakened so abruptly, she soon realized the reason.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Samuel was right above her—hovering over her. He was still and silent, mere inches away, like a mountain lion poised over prey.
He was completely naked.
Kahlan was so startled that for an instant she lay frozen in confusion, wondering if she really was awake or if she was having some kind of bizarre nightmare. Her disorientation evaporated in urgent alarm as her instincts took charge.
Without letting on that she was awake, she inched her hand downward toward her belt to get at her knife. Since she was turned to the right the sheath for her knife was somewhat under her. She had to squirm her fingers under her to get at the knife, trying not to betray the fact that she was awake. She counted on her blanket to help hide the movement of her hand.
The knife wasn’t there.
She glanced down a little, hoping it had fallen out somehow and that it would be on the ground nearby. It wasn’t. As she was feeling around under the blanket, trying to find her knife, she saw the pile of Samuel’s clothes not far away. Then she saw the knife. It had been tossed beyond his clothes, well out of reach.
She was sickened by the mental image of him stealthily removing his clothes as he stared at her while she slept. She was appalled by the thought that he had been so close to her, watching her, taking her knife, preparing for the obscene things he wanted to do to her, and that she hadn’t even been aware of it. Besides being appalled, she was angry at herself for letting him get this far.
While Samuel had always seemed timid and shy, and sometimes eager to curry favor, this didn’t entirely surprise her. She remembered all too well the times she’d caught him staring at her. Those looks had always seemed to contain a sneaky craving that he never otherwise betrayed. She controlled her outrage, focusing instead on survival.
Being hesitant and indecisive, Samuel was moving ever so slowly, inching into position, skulking in close rather than boldly pouncing. He apparently wanted to get completely over her, and then when he felt he was close enough to be sure that she couldn’t get away, he would muscle her under control and then live out the dark thoughts that had always been hidden behind his golden-yellow eyes.
Samuel wasn’t a big man, but he was muscular. He was certainly stronger than she was. There was
no way she could escape without a fight, and she was in a poor position to grapple with him. From this close she couldn’t even punch effectively. In this close, without a knife, without anyone to help her, she had little hope of fending him off.
Even though he was considerably stronger and she had been asleep, he had been wary. His mistake had been in not acting swiftly to incapacitate her. It hadn’t been a question of lack of ability or advantage, but a lack of courage. Her only edge at that moment was that he hadn’t acted swiftly and he didn’t know she was awake. She didn’t want to squander that advantage. When she acted, that surprise would help even the equation and give her an opportunity she would not get again.
Her mind raced through a list of options. She would have only one chance to strike first. She would have to make it count.
Her first thought was to bring her knee up where it would hurt him most, but the way she was lying, turned to her right, her legs trapped under a blanket, and with the way he was positioned over her pinning that blanket down, she deemed it a poor choice for a first strike.
Her left hand was free, though, just outside the blanket. That seemed her best choice. Without further delay, before it was too late, she struck hard and fast, as quick as a viper, trying to gouge out his eye with her thumb. She pressed with all her strength into the soft tissue of his eye.
He cried out in fright, immediately jerking his face back and away.
Quickly regaining his wits, he used his arm to slam hers away as she clawed at his face. At the same time he dropped his weight down, driving the air from her lungs in a whoosh.
Before she could draw a breath he rammed his other forearm across her throat, both pinning her head to the ground and preventing her from getting a breath. Kahlan kicked and twisted with all her might, trying to get away. It was like trying to fight off a bear. She was no match for his strength and weight, especially not in the vulnerable position she was in. She had no leverage to push him away and no effective way to strike.
Kahlan twisted her head more to the right to get her windpipe out from the direct weight his forearm was putting across her throat. Her straining neck muscles at least took the full load off her throat long enough for her to get a breath.
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