“Culture carries no privilege to exist. Cultures do not have value simply because they are. Some cultures, the world is better off without.” She lifted an eyebrow. “I submit, for your consideration, the Imperial Order.”
Richard let out a long breath. “I see what you mean.”
He took a swig of water as she ate some more tava. It still seemed somehow wrong to him for a culture, with its own history and traditions, to be wiped out, but he understood, to an extent, what she was saying.
“So the Ander way of life ceased to be. You were saying, about the Haken system of justice?”
“Despite what we may now think of how they came to be there, the Hakens were a people who valued fairness. In fact, they considered it essential to an orderly and prosperous society.
“Thus, over time, subsequent generations of Hakens gave increasing freedoms to the Anders they had conquered, eventually coming to view them as equals. Those subsequent generations came to share sensibilities similar to ours, and also came to feel shame at what their ancestors had done to the Ander people.”
Kahlan gazed out over the plains. “Of course, it’s easier to feel shame if those guilty are centuries dead, especially when such discrediting, by default, confers upon yourself a higher moral standard without having to stand the test in the true environment of the time.
“Anyway, their adherence to their notion of justice turned out to be the beginning of the downfall of the Haken people. The Anders, because of their conquest, always hated the Hakens and never ceased to harbor a hunger for revenge.”
One of the hunters, who had been cooking up porridge, brought over a warm piece of tava bread cupped in each hand and heaped with thick steaming porridge. Kahlan and Richard each gratefully took the hot food and she thanked him in his language.
“So how could a Haken system of justice,” Richard said, after they each had eaten some of the porridge laced with sweet dried berries, “result in the Hakens now being virtual slaves because of the Anders’ sense of justice? That just doesn’t seem possible.”
He saw that Du Chaillu, wrapped in blankets beside the fire, wasn’t interested in porridge. Cara had steeped the tea with the bag of herbs, and was hunkered beside Du Chaillu, seeing to it that she at least sipped some from a small wooden cup.
“A system of justice was not the cause of the Haken downfall, Richard, merely a step along the way—one of the bare bones of history. I’m only telling you the salient points. The results. Such shifts in culture and society take place over time.
“Because of fair laws, the Anders were able to make advances that in the end resulted in them being able to seize power. Anders are no different than anyone else in their hunger for power.”
“The Hakens were a ruling people. How did it get from there to the other way round?” Richard shook his head. He had a hard time believing it was as the wizards portrayed it.
“There is more in the middle.” Kahlan licked porridge off a finger. “Once the Anders had access to fair laws, it became for them the sharp end of a wedge.
“Once folded into the society, Anders used their freedom to gain status. At first, it was participation in business, the labor trades which became guilds, and membership on small local councils, things like that. One step at a time.
“Make no mistake, the Anders worked hard, too. Because the laws became fair to all, they were able to gain through their own hard work the same sorts of things the Hakens had. They became successful and respected.
“Most importantly, though, they became the moneylenders.
“You see, the Anders, it turned out, had a talent for business. Over time they became the merchant class instead of simply the working class. Being the merchants enabled families, over time, to acquire fortunes.
“They eventually became moneylenders, and thus a financial power. A few large and extensive Ander families controlled much of the finances and were to a large extent the unseen power behind Haken rule. Hakens grew complacent, while the Anders remained focused.
“Anders also became teachers. Almost from the beginning, the Hakens considered teaching a simple role the Ander people should be allowed to fill, freeing Hakens for more adult matters of rule. The Anders took on all aspects of teaching—not just the teaching itself—incrementally gaining control of the instruction of fit teachers, and therefore of the curriculum.”
Richard swallowed a mouthful of porridge. “I take it that was, for the Hakens, somehow a mistake?”
With her half-eaten tava-bread plate of porridge, Kahlan gestured for emphasis. “Besides reading and math, the children were taught history and culture, ostensibly so they would grow up to understand their place in their land’s culture and society.
“The Hakens wanted all children to learn a better way than war and conquest. They believed the Ander teachings of brutal Haken conquest at the expense of noble Ander people would help their children to grow up to be civilized, with respect for others. Instead, the guilt it put on young minds contributed to the erosion of the cohesive nature of Haken society, and of respect for the authority of Haken rule.
“And then came a cataclysmic event—a ruinous decade-long drought. It was during this drought that the Anders finally made their move to oust Haken rule.
“The entire economy was based on the production of crops—wheat, mostly. Farms failed, and farmers were unable to deliver export crops for which the merchants had already paid them. Debts were called due as everyone tried to survive the hard times. Many without great financial resources lost their farms.
“There might have been government controls placed on the economic system, to slow the panic, but the ruling Hakens feared to displease the moneylenders who backed them.
“And then worse problems erupted.
“People began dying. There were food riots. Fairfield was burned to the ground. Haken and Ander alike rose up in violent lawless rioting. The land was in chaos. Many people left for other lands, hoping to find a new life before they starved.
“The Anders, though, used their money to buy food from abroad. Only the financial resources of the wealthy Anders could purchase food from afar, and it was that food supply that was the only hope of survival for most people. The Anders, with this supply of food from abroad, were seen as the hand of salvation.
“The Anders bought out failed businesses and farms from people desperate for money. The Anders’ money, meager as it was, and their food supply, was the only thing keeping most families from starving.
“It was then the Anders began to extract the true price, and their vengeance.
“The government, run by the Hakens, was blamed by the mobs in the streets for the starvation. Anders, with their merchant connections, fomented and spread the insurrection from place to place. Anarchy befell the land as the Haken rulers were put to death in the streets, their bodies dragged before cheering crowds.
“Haken intellectuals drew the blood lust of frightened people for somehow being responsible for the starvation. Well-educated Hakens were viewed as enemies of the people, even by the majority of Hakens who were farmers and laborers. The purge of the learned Hakens was bloody. In the rioting and lawlessness, the entire Haken ruling class was systematically murdered. Every Haken of accomplishment was suspect, and so put to death.
“The Anders swiftly ruined, by either financial means or violent mobs, any Haken business or concern left.
“In the vacuum, the Anders seized power and brought order with food for starving people, Ander and Haken alike. When the dust settled, the Anders were in control of the land, and with strong forces of mercenaries they could afford to hire, soon held the land in an iron grip.”
Richard had stopped eating. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. He stared transfixed as Kahlan swept her hand expansively in telling of the downfall of reason.
“Anders changed the order of everything, making black white and white black. They declared no Haken could fairly judge an Ander, because of the ancient Haken tradition of injus
tice to Anders. Conversely, Anders asserted, because they had for so long been subjugated by their wicked Haken overlords, that they understood the nature of inequity, and so would be the only ones qualified to rule in matters of justice.
“Woeful tales of Haken cruelty were the currency of social acceptance. Frightened Hakens, in an attempt to prove the horrific charges untrue, and avoid being singled out by the well-armed troops, willingly submitted to Ander authority and those merciless mercenaries.
“The Anders, so long out of power, were ruthless in pressing their advantage.
“Haken people were forbidden to hold positions of power. Eventually, supposedly because the Haken overlords required Anders to address those overlords by surname, even the right to have a surname was denied the Hakens, unless they somehow proved themselves worthy and received special permission.”
“But haven’t they intermixed?” Richard asked. “After all that time, didn’t the Haken and Ander people intermarry? Didn’t they all blend together into one people?”
Kahlan shook her head. “From the beginning, the Anders, a tall dark-haired people, thought wedding the redheaded Hakens was a crime against the Creator. They believe the Creator, in His wisdom, made people distinct and different. They didn’t believe people should interbreed like livestock being bred for a new quality—which was what the Hakens had done. I’m not saying it didn’t occasionally happen, but to this day such a thing is rare.”
Richard rolled up his last bite of tava with porridge. “So, what’s it like there, now?” He popped the bite in his mouth.
“Since only the downtrodden—the Anders—can be virtuous, because they were oppressed, only they are allowed to rule. They teach that Haken oppression continues to this day. Even a look from a Haken can be interpreted as a projection of hate. Conversely, Hakens cannot be downtrodden, and thus virtuous, since by nature they are corrupt.
“It’s now against the law for Hakens to learn to read, out of fear they would again seize rule and go on to brutalize and butcher the Ander people, as surely as night always extinguishes day, to put their words to it. Hakens are required to attend classes called penance assembly to keep them in line. It’s all systematized and codified the way Anders now rule Hakens.
“Keep in mind, Richard, the history I told you is what was taught me by the wizards. What the Anders teach is quite different. They teach that they were an oppressed people who by their own higher nature have, after centuries of domination, once again exerted their cultural superiority. For all I know, their version could even be true.”
Richard was standing, hands on hips, staring incredulously. “And the council in Aydindril allowed this? They allowed the Anders to enslave the Haken people in such a fashion?”
“The Hakens meekly submit. They believe as they were taught by Ander teachers—that this is a better way.”
“But how could the Central Council allow such a perversion of justice?”
“You forget, Richard, the Midlands was an alliance of sovereign lands. The Confessors helped see to it that rule in the Midlands was, to a certain extent, fair. We did not tolerate murder of political opponents, things like that, but if a people like the Hakens willingly went along with the way their land worked, the council had little say. Brutal rule was opposed. Bizarre rule was not.”
Richard threw up his hands. “But the Hakens only go along because they are taught this nonsense. They don’t know how ridiculous it is. It is the equivalent of the abuse of an ignorant people.”
“Abuse maybe to you, Richard. They see it differently. They see it as a way to peace in their land. That is their right.”
“The fact they were deliberately taught in a way to make them ignorant is proof of the abuse.”
She tilted her head toward him. “Aren’t you the one who just told me the Hakens had no right to destroy the Ander culture? Now you argue the council should have done no less?”
Richard’s face reflected frustration. “You were talking about the council of the Midlands?”
Kahlan took another drink and then handed him the waterskin.
“This all happened centuries ago. No one land was strong enough to enforce law on the rest of the Midlands. Together, through the council, we simply try to work together. The Confessors interceded when rulers stepped outside the bounds.
“Had we tried to dictate how each sovereign land was to be ruled, the alliance would have fallen apart and war would have replaced reason and cooperation. I’m not saying it was perfect, Richard, but it allowed most people to live in peace.”
He sighed. “I suppose. I’m no expert on governing. I guess it served the people of the Midlands for thousands of years.”
Kahlan picked at her tava bread. “Things like what happened in Anderith are one reason I came to understand and believe in what you are trying to accomplish, Richard. Until you came along, with D’Hara behind your word, no one land was strong enough to set down just law for all peoples. Against a foe like Jagang, the alliance of the Midlands had no chance.”
Richard couldn’t really imagine how it must have been for her, as Mother Confessor, to see what she had worked for her entire life fall apart. Richard’s father, Darken Rahl, had set in motion events that had altered the world. Kahlan, at least, had seen the opportunity in the chaos.
Richard rubbed his brow as he considered what to do next.
“All right, so I now understand a bit about the history of Anderith. I’m sure that if I knew the history of D’Hara I’d find that far more sordid, and yet they now follow me and struggle for justice—strange as I realize that sounds. The spirits know some people have hung the crimes of D’Hara past around my Rahl neck.
“From what you’ve told me of Anderith history, they sound like a people who would never submit to the rule of the Imperial Order. Do you think we can get Anderith to join with us?”
Kahlan took a deep breath as she considered it. He had been hoping she would say yes without having to think about it.
“They are ruled by a sovereign, who is also their religious leader. That element of their society hearkens back to the religious beliefs of the Anders. The Directors of the Office of Cultural Amity hold sway over who will be named Sovereign for life. The Directors are supposed to be a moral check on the man appointed Sovereign—in a way like the First Wizard selecting the right person to be Seeker.
“The Anderith people believe that once anointed by the Directors, the man named Sovereign transcends mere matters of the flesh, and is in touch with the Creator Himself. Some fervently believe he speaks in this world for the Creator. Some view him with the reverence they would reserve for the Creator Himself.”
“So, he’s the one who will need to be convinced to join us?”
“In part, but the Sovereign doesn’t really rule in the day-to-day sense. He’s more a figurehead, loved by the people for what he represents. Nowadays Anders make up less than maybe fifteen or twenty percent of the population, but the Hakens feel much the same about their Sovereign.
“He has the power to order the rest of the government to a course, but more often he simply approves the one they select. For the large part, the ruling of Anderith is done by the Minister of Culture. The Minister sets the agenda for the land. That would be a man named Bertrand Chanboor.
“The Minister of Culture’s office just outside Fairfield is the governing body that ultimately would make the decision. The representatives I met with in Aydindril will report our words to Minister Chanboor.
“No matter the dim history, the present-day fact is that Anderith is a power to be reckoned with. If the ancient Anders were a primitive people, they are no longer so. They are wealthy merchants who control vast trade and wealth. They govern with equal skill; they have a secure grip on their power and their land.”
Richard scanned the empty grasslands. Ever since the chime had come to kill Du Chaillu, and he had felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end, he kept checking for the feeling, hoping that, if it came again, he w
ould be aware of the sensation sooner and to be able to warn everyone in time.
He glanced over to see Cara feeding Du Chaillu porridge. She needed to be back with her people, not carrying her unborn child all over the countryside.
“The Anders are not fat, soft, lazy merchants, either,” Kahlan went on. “Except for the army, where a semblance of equality exists, only Anders are allowed to carry weapons, and they tend to be good with them. The Anders, despite what you may think of them, are no fools and neither are they to be easily won over.”
Richard again gazed out over the grasslands as he made plans in his head.
“In Ebinissia, in Renwold,” he said, “Jagang has shown what he does to people who refuse to join him. If Anderith doesn’t join us, they will again fall to a foreign invasion. This time, though, the invaders will have no sense of justice.”
35
Richard, considering everything Kahlan had told him, and what the chimes had, in their own brutal way, told him, stood staring off toward Aydindril. Learning some of the history of Anderith only made him feel more sure of his decision.
“I knew we had to be going the wrong way,” he said at last.
Kahlan frowned out over the empty plains to the northeast, where he was looking. “What do you mean?”
“Zedd used to tell me that if the road is easy, you’re likely going the wrong way.”
“Richard, we’ve been all through that,” Kahlan said with weary insistence as she pushed her hair back off her face. “We need to get to Aydindril. Now, more than ever, you must see that.”
“The Mother Confessor is right,” Cara said, returning from Du Chaillu, now that the woman was resting. Richard noticed that Cara’s knuckles were white around her Agiel. “These chimes must be banished. We must help Zedd set magic right again.”
“Oh, really? You don’t know, Cara, how pleased I am to hear that you are now such a devotee of magic.” Richard looked around, checking for their gear. “I have to go to Anderith.”
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