“Well, it actually was a stroke of luck,” Shale said.
Richard shook his head. “Not exactly. I suspected that the goddess would want to get close to a gifted person, or even try to get in the mind of a gifted person. That’s why I called all the gifted up here to meet with us.
“If she had invaded the mind of a gifted person, I wanted to give the goddess a chance to get close to me. I knew she very well might inadvertently make herself known by being afraid to look into my eyes. Dori was the one, though, who wouldn’t look at me. When I leaned down and told her that I wanted to surrender, she took the bait—or at least, the goddess did. The reason I had invited all the gifted up to this place, besides suspecting the goddess might be among them, was that I hoped to get the goddess into a containment field if she was in one of them.”
Shale slapped the palm of a hand to her forehead. “You mean you thought that you could kill the goddess?”
“I told you,” Berdine said, “he gets crazy ideas.”
“No, I didn’t think I could kill her,” he said in a mocking tone over his shoulder at Berdine. “And it wasn’t a crazy idea. I was hoping to get more information out of her, maybe learn their weaknesses. Maybe find at least something we could use against them.”
“So, you lied to her?” Shale asked, sounding as if that was somehow cheating.
Richard showed her a lopsided smile. “I sure did. I lied through my teeth. She bought it, too. The goddess is arrogant. She believes that she is so terrifying that I would be afraid, feel hopeless, and simply give up.”
“All right. All well and good.” Kahlan pointed impatiently. “But, exactly, what happened in there?”
20
Richard pulled in a deep breath. “Well, the Golden Goddess decided, because of being around Dori’s mother, that magic wasn’t really so dangerous after all. Since she doesn’t understand magic, she didn’t grasp that the mother’s gift wasn’t very strong, and assumed that because the mother had magic, and that her magic wasn’t very dangerous, then my magic and magic in general weren’t really anything to be worried about.
“As I had hoped, she wanted her kind to come and see that there was nothing to fear from us, so she summoned a horde of them into the room. Hundreds. She wanted them to see how weak magic actually is by letting them kill me and then tell others, so that her kind would no longer need to be cautious.”
Kahlan leaned in, expectantly. “What did they look like?”
He looked into her eyes. “It was just like you described it—at first, anyway. They first appear as what you called a scribbly man. But that is only the initial phase as they are coming to our world, not what they really look like. It’s simply some kind of transitional phase as they begin to materialize here. It went fully dark before that one that attacked you completed its transition into our world, so you never actually saw what they look like.”
In slack-jawed attention, Berdine impatiently rolled her hand. “So, what do they look like once they finish appearing?”
Richard appraised all the eyes watching him. Kahlan could see that he was reluctant to tell them. After having been attacked by one, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the terrifying reality that all of those dead people below had faced.
“Bigger than me,” Richard said, holding his hand up high above his head to illustrate. “Muscular, long arms, each with those three claws, with almost black skin that … I don’t know. They didn’t have skin like us, and they didn’t have scales. The best way I can describe it is that it reminded me of the skin of a newt, or salamander, or even a tadpole. They were wet and slimy-looking, with globs of gelatinous material that slid down off their lumpy, amphibious-like skin.”
Berdine wrinkled her nose. “That’s disgusting.”
Richard nodded his agreement. “Some kind of steam or smoke rose up off of them as they became solid. I suspected that was somehow a consequence of traveling to our world.”
Berdine hooked her first two fingers. “Do they have fangs? Like snakes?”
Richard shook his head. “No. They have long, sharp white teeth, all about the same, and a whole lot of them in a row across the top and the bottom jaw.
“I asked Dori what her kind was called. She said they were called the Glee. Except that when she said it, it came out like a long, croaking hiss. I can’t pronounce it the way she did. But I can tell you, it ran goose bumps up my arms to hear her say it.”
“So then when happened?” Kahlan asked when he fell silent, staring off into the memory of it.
He gave her a look with a smile, which she thought was a little odd.
“Then she told me that she was the Golden Goddess, the bringer of the tide that would wash over our world and drown us all. All of those creatures were packed into the room, gathered around, all leaning in toward me, all snapping their jaws full of those long, sharp teeth, all eager to tear into me once she gave them the word.”
“And then what?” Berdine asked, impatiently rolling her hand yet again to urge him on when he paused.
“When she told me that she was the Golden Goddess, the bringer of the tide that would wash over us, I smiled at her, and asked if she knew who I was. Her eyes narrowed, and for the first time she looked uncertain.”
Berdine leaned in. “What’d you tell her?”
“I said, ‘I am the bringer of death.’”
Berdine laughed with excitement at that.
“And then what?” Kahlan asked.
“And then,” Richard said in a quiet tone, “along with everything else alive in that room, I had to kill that child.”
He paused for a moment before looking back at them and going on.
“I unleashed the full fury of that which I had been holding inside. In essence, I filled the containment field with an explosive discharge of Additive and Subtractive Magic linked together. Those two things don’t mix. Without the containment field, it would probably have taken out this whole floor of the palace, possibly this whole wing.”
“Did it catch them in time while they were still in our world? Did it kill them?” Kahlan asked, expectantly.
“Yes. That greasy black soot in there is all that’s left of them. The goddess thought she had learned from Dori’s mother that magic isn’t anything to fear. I wanted to show her just how mistaken she was, so I unleashed my hate on those hateful creatures, the kind of hate that only a war wizard can unleash. I have only just begun to show them my wrath.”
Berdine thrust a fist into the air. “Yes! That’s my Lord Rahl.”
The other Mord-Sith looked equally pleased, if less animated about it.
Kahlan leaned forward hopefully. “So, then you were able to kill the Golden Goddess as well.”
Richard looked from the Mord-Sith back to Kahlan as he slowly shook his head. “I killed the little girl who was hosting her. But the goddess wasn’t really there, in her. It’s something like the way the dream walkers used people. Remember when you once tried to kill the dream walker by touching someone he was using, but he was gone as soon as you unleashed your power? This was much the same. She was only using the girl to look through her eyes and use her voice. The goddess wasn’t physically there, in Dori. I only had an instant to act when she gave Glee the command to take me or they would have all torn into me or escaped. I had no choice but to kill Dori along with all those hateful things.”
He let out a long sigh. “But it accomplished two things. First, I learned that I don’t believe that the goddess is able to enter the mind of a gifted person.”
“Why do you think that?” Shale asked.
“Because she would have if she could have. As weak as Dori’s mother’s gift was, the goddess couldn’t get into her mind. That is why she had to use Dori. That was as close as she could get.”
“What’s the second thing?” Kahlan asked.
“It takes them a second or two to materialize here, in our world. Then, when they get here, they have to grasp their surroundings, look for any threat, and take in their
target. It’s only an instant, but in that instant they are vulnerable.
“But to kill them after they were here and before they could escape back to their world, and more importantly to strike fear of us into the hearts of their kind through the eyes of the Golden Goddess, I had to kill Dori, too.”
Kahlan put her arms around his neck, holding his head to her shoulder. “You had no choice, Richard. You had no choice.”
“I know. I am fuer grissa ost drauka. I am the bringer of death.”
21
“Are you sure they can’t enter the mind of a person with magic?” Shale asked.
“I can’t say I know that with absolute certainty,” Richard told her, “but after talking to the goddess through Dori, I’m convinced that she isn’t able to use the gifted—or she would already have done that. I believe she isn’t able to enter our minds for the simple reason that her ability isn’t compatible with our gift. Simply put, our gift won’t allow her in.”
Shale squinted with uncertainty. “Won’t allow it?”
“While the goddess and the Glee can do what seems unfathomable to us—traveling to other worlds—I think that magic must block their ability to get past it and into our minds. That’s why they were leery of the gift.
“They are predators. They hunt, which proves they have the ability to think and plan. And from the evidence of the dead we found down below, they work together. There are plenty of animals that are very dangerous, that stalk their prey and work together, but can’t fathom magic. It stymies them.”
“But you can’t say with absolute certainty that they can’t use the mind of the gifted,” Shale pressed.
“Their primary goal is to eliminate me and Kahlan, right? So why not use you? If they could do it,” Richard insisted, “then the goddess would have chosen to enter your mind, don’t you suppose? You are close to me.” He swept an arm around. “Or the mind of one of the Mord-Sith. They are even closer. If she was able to do that, then why choose a little girl? Because the minds of children are weaker, that’s why,” he said, answering his own question.
“But Nolo was an adult,” Shale argued.
Richard smiled. “He was a diplomat, through and through. All of Nolo’s people are bred to be diplomats, raised as diplomats.”
Shale frowned. “So?”
“What adult mind is more simplistic and childlike than a diplomat’s?”
Shale considered a moment. “I suppose you could be right.”
“Killing me and Kahlan is her goal. When we’re asleep, the Mord-Sith watch over us. If the goddess could use the mind of a gifted person, she would have already killed Kahlan and me by simply having a Mord-Sith do it while we were asleep. If she could have, she would have.”
“I see your point,” the sorceress conceded. She met his gaze. “Now that you mention it, as I said before, I had a murky vision of some kind of being when I was in meditation. It was just beyond awareness and I didn’t know what it could be. That the vague, shadowy image had to be the goddess trying to make a connection with me, but ultimately failing. You have to be right that they can’t enter the mind of the gifted or she would have entered my mind right then and there.”
“So, then we have learned something useful,” Kahlan said.
Richard flashed her a smile. “Yes, we have. It means we can use the gifted to help us without worrying that the goddess could be watching what we do through their eyes. But now we also know that anyone ungifted here at the palace could be an unwitting spy. That means that the goddess could even enter the mind of any of the First File.” He arched an eyebrow. “Not exactly safe having them watch over us while we sleep.”
Kahlan looked around at the decidedly unsettled looks on the faces of the Mord-Sith. “That’s an alarming bit of news.”
“Do you know where there are more gifted who could be helpful?” Shale asked. “All those here at the People’s Palace may have enough of the gift to keep the goddess out of their minds, but they don’t have enough power to be of any use in defeating these things.”
“The Wizard’s Keep,” Vika answered in Richard’s place.
“That’s right,” he said, nodding at her. “If we can get there, then—”
Everyone turned when they heard twin screams echo up a stairwell not far down the corridor. They were the kind of screams that could mean only one thing.
Every one of the Mord-Sith immediately swung the Agiel hanging on a fine gold chain from her wrist up into her fist as Richard broke into a dead run. All the Mord-Sith were right behind. Richard and the Mord-Sith beat the soldiers to the stairs, but not Kahlan and Shale.
Kahlan was not pleased to be stuck behind so many hulking men as Richard charged down the stairs. As they reached the next level down, a service area, Kahlan saw past the men and the railing that the torches were out, as were the lamps. The only light was that coming down the stairwell.
In the shadows, she could see a dark shape flailing away at someone already on the ground.
Still four steps from the bottom, Richard leaped off the stairs toward the shadowy shape of the threat. His sword came out in midair, sending its unique ring of steel down the dark hallway. The blade, steel blackened from touching the world of the dead, flashed as it came up into the air.
Richard, screaming with lethal intent, swung the sword with all his might while still in mid-leap. The blade whistled as it arced through the air. A black arm lifted in defense, only to be severed.
As Richard was landing on his feet, the dark arm, with three massive claws at the end, spiraled through the air. At the same time, the rest of the creature turned back into scribbles as it vanished into thin air.
The Mord-Sith dove off the stairs after Richard, all of them striving to reach the threat. But it was gone before they could get to it. The Mord-Sith, along with the soldiers, charged off into the darkness, looking for any more of the Glee.
Two women were sprawled on their backs on the floor, clearly dead. The rib cage of one and the abdomen of the other had been ripped open almost to their spines by powerful strikes from those claws, leaving their insides spread across the floor.
Almost without pause, Richard stormed off down the hall right behind the soldiers, then sped past them, his sword in hand, hoping to catch more of the attackers.
Kahlan stood with Shale as the others raced away to make sure the dark hall was clear. Other soldiers collected torches and headed into the darkness. Shale leaned down to check, but it was obvious to Kahlan that no amount of healing would bring life back to the poor women. They were two of the palace staff, and had simply been going about their work when they had been cut down. Kahlan couldn’t help thinking about their families. She wondered if they had children who would never see their mothers again.
As Shale looked up at Kahlan to say that nothing could be done, her eyes went wide. Kahlan realized that the sorceress was seeing something behind her. Without hesitation, Kahlan ducked and rolled to the side, just in time as claws swept past, flicking a lock of hair on the way by and barely missing catching her neck.
Shale thrust an arm out. From her hand a wavering glow to the air instantly left with a loud crack, like the crack of a whip. As Kahlan was rolling back to her feet, turning to face the enemy, the strike of Shale’s power went right through the dark shape just as it was dissolving back into its own world. That magic hit a far wall and blew a hole through it, sending bits of plaster and stone flying everywhere. Kahlan could see the main corridor beyond through that hole.
She didn’t know what sort of magic Shale had used. Kahlan had never seen anything quite like it. But then again, she had never seen a sorceress and a witch woman combined in one person.
Richard returned just as Shale rushed over to Kahlan to make sure she was all right.
“What happened?” he asked.
“One of them tried to get me,” Kahlan said. “Shale saved me just in time. She tried to strike it down with her power”—Kahlan gestured to the hole in the wall—“but it was
already vanishing and got away.”
Kahlan and Richard were suddenly surrounded by Mord-Sith, but the threat had already passed. Soldiers closed in beyond the Mord-Sith, forming another ring of protection, swords all pointed outward.
“You’re right,” Shale told Richard. “They are thinking creatures. One of them attacked these two women to draw you away so that another could strike behind you at Kahlan.”
Richard gritted his teeth in anger. “And I took the bait, leaving Kahlan unprotected.” He thought better of what he said. “Except for you, of course. Thanks, Shale.”
She offered a smile. “I just wish I had been faster. I almost had it. Next time I’ll have to be quicker.”
Richard sheathed his sword, helping to quench the anger in his eyes as he looked down at the arm on the ground. It had been severed cleanly just above the elbow, bone and all. Its skin was as he had described it—almost black, smooth, and slimy. The blood was red. The bloody claw, with strings of tissue and clothes stuck in it from the two women it had killed, slowly closed and opened once in death before finally going still.
Kahlan was enraged that it had murdered the two women, and another one of them almost had its claws into her. “If I would have just been a second faster, I could have touched it with my power after it took that swing at me.”
“Well,” Shale said, “at least one of them went back without an arm. That’s a good message to send back to them.”
Richard didn’t look pleased. “A message that will likely anger them. From what you said about there being killings in the Northern Waste, and other reports we’ve had, the Glee are randomly attacking people everywhere.
“But it’s becoming clear that their main focus is to attack people around Kahlan and me in an effort to draw us into making a mistake. The goddess is becoming obsessed with killing you and me,” he said to Kahlan. “They almost got you for a second time. We can’t let that happen again. We have to deny them their plan while I try to figure out a way to end the threat.”
Hateful Things Page 10