The man obviously didn’t want the little finger sitting in the palm of his hand, but after he looked up into Richard’s withering glower, he said nothing and made no attempt to rid himself of the gory trophy.
Richard walked among the men, ordering random men to open their hands. Kahlan recognized the ones he selected as men who had objected to the things he was trying to do to help them. He placed a finger in each upturned hand until the bag was empty.
“What you hold in your hand is the result of evil,” Richard said. “You men all know the truth of it. You all knew evil was loose in your land. You all wanted that to change. You all wanted to be rid of evil. You all wanted to live. You all wanted your loved ones to live.
“You all had hoped to do it without having to face the truth.
“I have tried to explain things to you so that you could understand the true nature of the battle we all face.”
Richard straightened the baldric over his shoulder.
“I am done explaining.
“You wanted me brought to your land. You have accomplished your goal. Now, you are going to decide if you will follow through with what you know to be right.”
Richard again stood before them, his back straight, his chin held high, his scabbard gleaming in the gloomy light, his black tunic trimmed in gold standing out in sharp contrast against the fog-shrouded mountains behind him. He looked like nothing so much as the Lord Rahl. He was as commanding a figure as Kahlan had ever seen.
After Richard and Kahlan’s beginning so long ago, when they had struck out from those secluded woods of his, Richard had turned the world upside down. From the beginning, he had always been at the heart of their struggle, and was now the ruler of an empire—even if that endangered empire was largely a mystery to him, as was his gift.
His cause, though, was crystal clear.
Together, Kahlan and Richard were at the center of the storm of a war that had engulfed their world. It had now engulfed these men and their land.
Many people saw Richard as their only salvation. Richard seemed forever trying to prove them wrong. For many others, though, he was the single most hated man alive. For them, Richard sought to give them cause; he told people that their life was their own. The Imperial Order wanted him dead for that more than for any blow he had dealt them.
“This is the way things are going to be,” Richard finally said in a voice of quiet authority.
“You will surrender your land and your loyalty to the D’Haran Empire, or you will be the subjects of the Imperial Order. Those are your only two choices. There are no others. Like it or not, you must choose. If you refuse to make a choice, events will decide for you and you will likely end up in the hands of the Imperial Order. Make no mistake, they are evil hands.
“With the Order, if you are not murdered, you will be slaves and treated as such. I think you know very well what that entails. Your lives will have no value to them except as slaves, called upon to help them spread their evil.
“As part of the D’Haran Empire, your lives will be your own. I will expect you to rise up and live them as the individuals you are, not as some speck of dirt in a pit of filth you have dug yourselves into.
“The seal to your hiding place, to the Bandakaran Empire, has failed. I don’t know how to repair it, nor would I if I could. There is no more Empire of Bandakar.
“There is no way to allow you to be who you were and to protect you. Maybe the Order can be thrown out of your land, but they cannot be effortlessly kept out, for it is their ideas that have come to destroy you.
“So choose. Slaves or free men. Life as either will not be easy. I think you know what life as slaves will be like. As free men you will have to struggle, work, and think, but you will have the rewards that brings, and those rewards will be yours and no one else’s.
“Freedom must be won, but then it has to be guarded lest those like the Order come again to enslave those wishing for someone else to do their thinking.
“I am the Lord Rahl. I intend to go get the antidote to the poison you’ve given me. If you men choose to be part of this struggle, to rid yourselves and your loved ones of evil, then I will help you.
“If you choose not to stand with us, then you may go back and let the Order do with you what they will, or you can run. If you run, you may survive for a time, as you have been doing, but, because that is not the way you wish to live, you will die as frightened animals, never having lived what life has to offer.
“So choose, but if you choose to stand with me against evil, then you will have to relinquish your self-imposed blindness and open your eyes to look around at life. You will have to see the reality of the world around you. There is good and bad in the world. You will have to use your minds to judge which is which so that you can seek the good and reject the bad.
“If you choose to stand with me, I will do my best to answer any honest question and try to teach you how to triumph against the men of the Order and those like them. But I will not suffer your mindless teachings that are nothing more than a calculated rejection of life.
“Take a look at the bloody fingers you or your friends hold. Look at what was done to children by evil men. You should hate such men who would do this. If you don’t, or can’t, then you have no business being with those of us who embrace life.
“I want each of you to think about those children, about their terror, their pain, their wish not to be hurt. Think of what it was like for them to be alone and in the hands of evil men. You should rightfully hate the men who would do such things. Hold tight to that righteous hatred, for that is the hatred of evil.
“I intend to recover the antidote so that I can live. In the process, I also intend to kill as many of those evil men as I can. If I go alone, I may succeed in getting the antidote, but alone I will not succeed in liberating your homes from the Imperial Order.
“If you choose to go with me, to help me in this struggle, we may have a chance.
“I don’t know what I face there, so I can’t honestly tell you that we have a good chance. I can only tell you that if you don’t help me, then there is likely no chance.”
Richard held up a finger. “Make no mistake. If you choose to join us and we take up this struggle, some of us will probably die. If we do not, all of us will die, not necessarily in body, but in spirit. Under such rule as the Order has shown you, no one lives, even though their bodies might for a time endure the misery of life as slaves. Under the Order, every soul withers and dies.”
The men were silent as Richard paused to meet their gazes. Most could not look away, while some seemed shamed and so they stared at the ground.
“If you choose to side with me in this struggle,” Richard said with deliberate care, “you will be called upon to kill men of the Order, evil men. If you once thought that I enjoyed killing, let me assure you that you are very wrong. I hate it. I do it to defend life. I would never expect you to relish killing. It is a necessity to do it, not to enjoy doing it. I expect you to relish life and do what is necessary to preserve it.”
Richard picked up one of the items, lying off to the side, that they had made while waiting for Tom and Owen to bring the men up into the pass. It looked like little more than a stout stick. It was in fact made of oak limbs. It was rounded at the back to fit the hand, narrow at a point in the middle, and pointed at the other end.
“You men don’t have weapons. While we waited for you to arrive, we’ve made some.” He waggled his fingers, requesting Tom to come forward. “The men of the Order won’t recognize these as weapons, at first, anyway. If questioned, you should tell them that they’re used to make holes in the ground to plant crops.”
With his left hand, Richard seized Tom’s shirt at his shoulder, to hold him, and demonstrated the weapon’s use by slowly showing how it would be thrust upward, toward a man’s middle just under his ribs, to stab him. Some faces among the men twisted with revulsion.
“This can most easily be driven up into a man’s soft part, up i
n under his ribs,” Richard told them. “Once you thrust it in, give it a quick sideways twist to break it off at the narrow point. That way, the man won’t be able to pull it out. With such a thing lodged in his insides, if he can even stand, he won’t want to be running after you or trying to wrestle you. You’ll be better able to get away.”
One of the men lifted a hand. “But a piece of wood like that will be wet and wouldn’t break. Many of the wood fibers will just bend over, leaving the handle end attached.”
Richard tossed the weapon to the man. After he caught it, he said, “Look at the middle, where it’s cut to a narrow neck. You’ll see that it’s been held over a fire and dried for that very reason. Notice the pointed end, too. You’ll see that it’s been cut and split into four sections, with the points bent open, like a flower bud, so that as it’s thrust into an enemy it has a good chance to break open, the four sides going in different directions to do more damage. With that one thrust, it will be like stabbing him four times.
“When you snap it off in him, he won’t be able to fight you because every move he makes will wrench those long oak splinters through his vulnerable insides. If it doesn’t hit something vital and kill him immediately, he’s certainly likely to die within the day. While he’s dying, he’ll be screaming in agony and fear. I want such evil men to know that the pain and death they inflict on others will be coming for them. That fear will cause them to begin to think of running. It will make them lose sleep, wear them down, so that when we do get to them they’ll be easier to kill.”
Richard picked up another item. “This is a small crossbow.” He held it high for the men to see as he pointed out its features. “As you can see, the bowstring is locked back on this nut. A stout bolt is laid in this groove, here. Pulling this lever rotates the nut, releasing the string and firing the bolt. It isn’t fancy, and you men aren’t experienced at using such weapons, but at close range you don’t have to be all that good a shot.
“I’ve started a number of crossbows and have a whole pile of stocks and parts made. With the items that you men brought back, we can finish making them. They’re rather crude, and, as I said, they won’t be good at much of a distance, but they are small and you can hide them under a cloak. No matter how big and strong the enemy is, the smallest of you can kill him. Not even his chain-mail armor will protect against such a weapon fired at close range. I can promise you that they will be very deadly.”
Richard showed the men hardwood clubs they would stud with nails. Such weapons could also be concealed. He showed them a simple cord with a small wooden handle at each end that was used to strangle a man from behind when stealth was paramount.
“As we take these men, we’ll be able to get other weapons—knives, axes, maces, swords.”
“But, Lord Rahl,” Owen said, looking beside himself with worry, “even if we were to agree to join you in this, we are not fighters. These men of the Order are brutes who are experienced at such things. We would stand no chance against them.”
The others voiced their worried agreement. Richard shook his head as he held up his hands for them to be quiet.
“Look at those fingers you hold. Ask yourselves what chance those little girls had against such men. Ask yourselves what chance your mothers, your sisters, your wives, your daughters have. You are the only hope for these people. You are the only hope for yourselves.
“Most likely, you men would not stand a chance against such men, either. But I have no intention of fighting them as you’re thinking. That’s a good way to get killed.” Richard pointed at one of the younger men. “What is it we want? The reason you came to get me?”
The man looked confused. “To get rid of the men of the Order?”
“Yes,” Richard said. “That’s right. You want to be rid of murderers. The last thing you want is to fight them.”
The man gestured at the weapons Richard had shown them. “But these things…”
“These men are murderers. Our task is to execute them. We want to avoid fights. If we fight them, we risk being hurt or killed. I am not saying that we won’t have to fight them, but that isn’t our goal. There will be times when there may be limited numbers of them and we can be sure that with surprise we can take them out before a fight has a chance to erupt. Keep in mind that these men have been conditioned to none of your people putting up any resistance. We hope to kill them before it occurs to them to draw a weapon.
“But if we don’t have to face them, all the better. Our goal is to kill them. To kill every one of them we can. Kill them when they sleep, when they are looking the other way, when they are eating, when they are talking, when they are drinking, when they are out for a stroll.
“They are evil. We must kill them, not fight them.”
Owen threw up his hands. “But, Lord Rahl, if we were to start killing them, they would take revenge on all the people they have.”
Richard watched the men, waiting until he was sure everyone was paying attention.
“You have just recognized the reality that they are evil. You’re right; they will probably start killing captives as a way to convince you to surrender. But they are killing them now. Over time, if left to do as they will, the killing they do will be on a vast scale. The faster we kill them, the sooner it’s over and the sooner the murder will stop. Some people will lose their lives because of what we do, but in doing it, we will free all the rest. If we do nothing, then we condemn those innocent people to the mercy of evil and evil grants no mercy. As I’ve said before, you can’t negotiate with evil. You must destroy it.”
A man cleared his throat. “Lord Rahl, some of our people have sided with the men of the Order—believed their words. They will not want us to harm the men of the Order.”
Richard let out a heavy breath. He turned away for a moment, gazing off into the gloom, before turning his attention once more to the men. “I’ve had to kill people I knew my whole life because they sided with the Order, much the same as you are saying. They came to believe the men of the Imperial Order, and because I was opposed to the Order, they tried to kill me. It’s a terrible thing to have to kill someone like that, someone you know. I believe the alternative is worse.”
“The alternative?” the man asked.
“Yes, letting them murder me. That’s the alternative: losing your life and losing the cause for which you fight—the lives of your loved ones.” Richard’s expression had turned grave. “If some of your people have joined with the Order, or work to protect them, then it may be that you could end up facing them. It will be their life, or yours. It could even mean the lives of the rest of us. If they side with evil, then we must not allow them to stop us from eliminating evil.
“This is part of what you must weigh in your decision to join us or not. If you take up this struggle, you must accept that you may have to kill people you know. You must weigh this in the choice you will make.”
The men no longer seemed shocked by his words. They looked solemn as they listened.
Kahlan saw small birds flitting past, looking to roost for the night. The sky, the icy fog, was getting darker. She scanned the sky, ever watchful for black-tipped races. With the weather in the pass so dreadful, she doubted they would be around. The fog, at least, was comforting for that reason.
Richard looked exhausted. She knew how hard it was for her to breathe in the high, thin air, so it had to be far worse for him; she feared how, because of the poison, the thin air robbed Richard of his strength. They needed to be down out of the high pass.
“I have told you the truth and all I can for now,” Richard told the men. “Your future is now up to each of you.”
He quietly asked Cara, Jennsen, and Tom to collect their things. He put a gentle hand on Kahlan’s back as he turned to the men and gestured down the hill.
“We’re going back down to our camp in those woods. You men decide what you will do. If you are with us, then come down there in the protection of the trees, where the races won’t be able to spot us when
the weather lifts. We will need to finish making the weapons you will carry.
“If any of you choose not to join us, then you’re on your own. I plan not to be here, at this camp, for long. If the Order captures you they will likely torture you and I don’t want to be anywhere nearby when you scream your lungs out as you reveal where our camp was.”
The forlorn men stood huddled in a group.
“Lord Rahl,” Owen asked, “you mean we must choose now?”
“I’ve told you all I can. How much longer can those being tortured, raped, and murdered wait for you? If you wish to join us and be part of life, then come down to our camp. If you choose not to be on our side, then I wish you luck. But please don’t try to follow us or I’ll have to kill you. I was once a woods guide; I will know if any of you follow us.”
One of the men, the one who had been the first to show Richard two pebbles to say that he would reveal the location of the antidote, stepped forward, away from the rest of the men.
“Lord Rahl, my name is Anson.” Tears filled his blue eyes. “I wanted you to know that, to know who I am. I am Anson.”
Richard nodded. “All right, Anson.”
“Thank you for opening my eyes. I’ve always had some of the thoughts that you explained. Now I understand why, and I understand the darkness kept over my eyes. I don’t want to live like that anymore. I don’t want to live by words that don’t mean anything and I don’t want the men of the Order to control my life.
“My parents were murdered. I saw my father’s body hanging from a pole. He never hurt anyone. He did nothing to deserve such a murder. My sister was taken. I know what those men are doing to her. I can’t sleep at night thinking about it, thinking about her terror.
“I want to fight back. I want to kill these evil men. They’ve earned death. I want to grind them into dust, as you have said.
“I choose to join with you and fight to gain my freedom. I want to live free. I want those I love to live free.”
Kahlan was stunned to hear one of them say such things, especially without first consulting with the rest of the men. She had watched the eyes of the other men as Anson spoke. They all listened keenly to everything Anson said.