It was a reminder to prompt Richard to stop looking around the Garden of Life and get moving. Richard needed to take a last look at it all and get it fixed in his mind. He had also wanted to make sure that the boxes of Orden were still where he had left them and that they hadn’t been disturbed. Satisfied, he started up the path between the small trees.
Outside the great doors carved with a scene of rolling hills and forests and then sheathed in gold, General Zimmer and a large contingent of the First File waited to protect him wherever he went in the palace. He was going to need a way around that, and he hoped Nathan would provide the excuse.
“General Zimmer,” Richard said, lifting a hand to get the man’s attention as he hurried down the hall. “We need to get down to the containment field in the lower libraries. Nicci has to heal me there, so we’ll be in there all night. While we’re doing that, I want Nathan to take you and the men and show you where we need defensive positions set up.”
The general looked a little confused. “If there is any breach, we will defend right there, wherever it is.”
Richard was shaking his head. “Ordinarily, you would be right. But this threat is different. It involves powers we’ve never had to face before.” Richard signaled to the prophet. “Nathan will take you and the men down and show you the spots where we hope to be able to contain any intrusion. He will know best where his magic will work, should it be needed.”
The general, more accustomed to acting alone and in his own way than by elaborate planning, looked back at Nathan, seeming unsure. Richard gestured again. “Hurry now. Get going. Once you’re done, I’d like you and the men to stand guard outside the library with the containment field where we will be. Nathan knows which one it is.”
General Zimmer clapped a fist to his heart. “I will see that it is taken care of, Lord Rahl.”
With Nathan following closely behind, General Zimmer peeled away as he started down the hall, taking his large contingent of men with him down the nearest staircase. The entire top floor was guarded with a permanent force of the First File who would remain behind to guard the Garden of Life and the boxes of Orden waiting inside.
Richard, with Kahlan at his side, followed Rikka down the grand marble staircases on the other side from the one the general and his men had taken. Nicci, Cassia, and Vale followed him down flights of stairs past landings at several levels. Richard slipped an arm around Kahlan’s waist as they descended the marble steps. He needed to feel her warmth, the life in her. He needed to feel the balance to what churned inside him.
At the unexpected embrace, Kahlan looked over at him, not asking anything, not saying anything, simply happy that he had pulled her close to him. She gave him her special smile, the one she gave no one else.
Rikka knew the way to the library with the containment field better than any of them, so when they reached a lower level she led them without hesitation through guarded double doors out of the restricted areas and into the grand halls of the palace. They were immediately greeted by the background murmur of hushed whispers and the scuffing of feet against the ornate stone floors.
Being one of the main public hallways through the palace, it was several stories high. There were people everywhere nervously going about their business, taking care of urgent matters. He could see small groups of people rushing over the bridges that crossed the hallway overhead. Some stopped to look down at the unexpected sight of the Lord Rahl in the palace. It had been quite a while since they had seen him.
Everywhere, people noticed the statuesque blonde with the single braid, dressed in red leather, walking out in front, leading the Lord Rahl and the Mother Confessor through his palace. Richard had forgotten what it was like to have eyes constantly watching them. With that unique skill that beautiful women seemed to possess, Rikka appeared not to notice anyone looking at her, and yet was acutely aware of all the eyes on her.
From a side hall, Nyda arrived to join them. She glanced over to Richard, Kahlan, and those following. She noticed immediately that Rikka marched with purpose, her eyes ahead, and fell in beside her. Rikka and Nyda almost looked as if they could have been sisters. With four Mord-Sith escorting them, surrounding Richard, Kahlan, and Nicci in a wall of red leather, they were drawing even more attention.
Mord-Sith never went anywhere unnoticed. Even if people didn’t look directly at them, most people seemed to have a sixth sense that enabled them to know where the Mord-Sith were and casually, without looking at the women in red leather, to move away and give them ample distance.
The People’s Palace was so sprawling that it took quite some time to get from one end to the other. Richard was glad when Rikka turned them in to a private corridor and then down service stairs that would cut the distance they needed to travel through the palace.
They finally reached the proper hallway where there were several libraries, most with glassed doors, including the one with the containment field.
“Here we are,” Rikka said as she stopped and gestured.
“At last,” Kahlan said with obvious relief. “I never thought we would get here.”
Just before entering through the double doors with squares of opaque glass, Richard came to a stop. He snapped his fingers.
“I forgot. I have to do something a minute. It will be quick.”
Nicci frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Kahlan’s frown was more serious. “Richard, you need to get in here right now and let Nicci get that poison out of you.”
Richard was nodding reassuringly as she spoke. “I know, I know. This will only take a minute. Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
“You can do it after–”
“No, I just need to do this first. It will be quick. I’ll explain in a couple minutes when I’m back. I will be right back.”
Kahlan looked into the dark room and then back to him. “Richard, I don’t think–”
“Get the lamps lit and get the place set up,” he said, gesturing into the room. “Hurry.”
Before Nicci could take his arm, he stepped away and seized Cassia’s instead. “I’ll take Cassia with me. All right? Will that ease your mind?”
He started moving down the hall, still holding Cassia’s arm, ushering her along with him. He waved assurance back at the confused faces of Kahlan and Nicci, and the scowls of the other three Mord-Sith.
Kahlan lifted her hand in confusion. “Richard–”
“Go in and wait for me.” He gestured for her to go into the library. “I’ll be right back.”
As soon as he turned a corner in the hall so that he was out of their sight, he started running.
Cassia ran at his side. “Lord Rahl, what’s going on? Where are we going?”
Richard pointedly didn’t answer her. He caught the round cap of a newel post in one hand to help swing himself around as he caught Cassia’s arm with his other hand to pull her along with him and down the stairs.
His mind raced as fast as his feet as he oriented himself in a mental map of the palace, making sure of each intersection and turn he made so that he wouldn’t get stuck in a dead end with a shield and have to waste time backtracking. He took several unconventional routes simply to skirt one place that he knew was shielded, and a public corridor so that he wouldn’t be seen by anyone.
“Lord Rahl, what are we doing? Where are you going?”
Richard slid to a stop as a shield he hadn’t realized would be in that particular hallway lit the air red right across the hallway. He would have to go back and take a different route.
“Lord Rahl–”
He turned to face Cassia, still holding her by the arm. “I’m going someplace dangerous. I have to do something crazy. I need help. Are you with me? Are you willing to risk your life helping me?”
Cassia blinked at the question, then lifted Cara’s Agiel from where it hung on the chain at her neck, showing it to him. “Of course, Lord Rahl. Like Cara, I would lay down my life for you.”
“I’m trying to save all
of our lives. I have to do this. It’s the only way–our only chance.”
Cassia’s face screwed up with a puzzled frown. “Do what?”
Richard turned her and gave her a shove, starting her running back up the hall with him. He took the next intersection, flinging open the door into the Lord Rahl’s private corridor off the service area. There would be less chance of being spotted in there. He was relieved to see which corridor it was. He remembered the small painting of a statue on a hillside of wildflowers. It was a corridor that would take them where they needed to go.
“Stay with me,” he said as he hurried down the hallway. “There is no time to lose.”
“Lord Rahl, what’s wrong?”
“Sulachan and the half people are going to break in soon and start killing people. We have to get back in time to stop them before it’s too late and everyone is slaughtered.”
“Lord Rahl,” she protested as she ran behind him. “What are you going to do? Why couldn’t you tell the others? Why would you leave the Mother Confessor without telling her?”
He stopped and turned back a moment, catching his breath.
“That horde of half people spread out across the Azrith Plain are going to get in here at any moment. If I don’t do this they will kill everyone in here. The Twilight Count is nearly done. Time is running out. If I don’t do this everyone is going to die.”
“So why couldn’t you tell her that and tell her what you intend to do? And what is it you intend–”
“Even if I succeed in saving the world of life, I will likely die doing it. I couldn’t tell her that. If by some chance I live, then I’ll have to apologize to her, but I couldn’t tell her I’m running off to do something that is likely to get me killed no matter if I succeed or not. This is about everyone, not just the people here.”
Cassia smiled a crooked grin. “Lord Rahl, she knows your heart. Whatever it is you have to do, she would understand.”
“Not this,” he said as he started down the corridor again, heading for the stairs.
At the bottom of the solemn black marble stairs, he raced along the final corridor that would get him to where he needed to go.
“Sliph!” he called out as he ran. “Sliph–I need you!”
He threw open the double doors and stumbled to a stop, Cassia right behind him, both out of breath.
The silver face rising above the silver pool in the well smiled pleasantly. “Master, you wish to travel?”
Richard swallowed, hands on his knees, catching his breath. He straightened.
“Yes, we both need to travel. It’s urgent. We need to travel.”
“Come,” the sliph said, “and we will travel. You will be pleased.”
Richard hopped up on the stone wall surrounding her well. “You must not tell anyone where we’re going,” he said as he helped pull Cassia up beside him. “No matter who asks, you must not let them know where you are taking us.”
“Master,” the sliph said with a coy smile, “you know I never reveal anything about my clients to anyone.”
CHAPTER
54
Kahlan paced down the length of the library, past rows of shelves holding books of prophecy, a thumbnail held tightly between her front teeth as her mind raced. She would look herself, if she knew where to look, but she wouldn’t even know where to start. She came to a halt and looked up when General Zimmer rushed into the room.
“Did you find him?”
He shook his head as he caught his breath. “I’m sorry, Mother Confessor, but no. I have men searching everywhere. No one has seen them.”
Nicci threw her arms up. “It doesn’t make any sense. He’s been missing most of the night. He said he was only going to be a few minutes. How could he simply vanish?”
Vale stepped forward hesitantly. “Could, well, could some of those half people have snuck in and snatched them?”
“There would at least have been blood from any such attack,” Nicci said in a quiet voice.
When she heard nothing, the sorceress glanced up from under her brow at the general.
The general’s face distorted with an uncomfortable expression. “All I can tell you is that none of the men has spotted so much as a drop of blood.”
“Have they spotted anything useful?”
“It’s an awfully big place, Mother Confessor,” the big D’Haran said, clearly uneasy that he had no good news. “There are a thousand places to look.”
Kahlan went back to pacing. “He said he was only going to be gone a few minutes. I felt like something wasn’t right. I had a feeling. I should have trusted that feeling and not have let him go.” She gestured with a hand, angry at herself, blaming herself. “It’s just that he rushed off so fast.”
Kahlan pressed her lips tight for a moment. “He needs to be healed. He doesn’t have much time left before that poison kills him.”
She was on the verge of panic, remembering what it was like seeing him when he was dead. Her whole world had ended. Now, he was near death again from that taint of death within him. Nicci could have removed it. But now he was gone.
Nicci, leaning against a heavy table, watched Kahlan pace. “This is making me start to wonder why he wanted to stop to check on Regula.”
“What do you mean?” Kahlan asked without looking over.
“Richard is so honest that I never suspected he might be lying.”
Kahlan paused in her pacing and looked up. “You think he was lying?”
“At least not telling us the whole truth.” Nicci’s arms came unfolded as she stood up away from the table. “Do you think he had to stop there to check on the machine, talk to Regula alone, and it didn’t tell him anything he could understand? Since when has Richard been so easily stymied? Kahlan, that’s not just a mysterious omen machine. That’s Regula, the controller of the eternal now. It’s an underworld force that has been brought to life in this world, banished here because it’s so dangerous. Spirits sent it here to hide it from Sulachan in the underworld, but Sulachan found it, here, in this world. Richard knows all that.”
Kahlan rubbed her arms against the chill of her fears. “What do you think it told him?”
Nicci let her arms flop down against her sides. “Who knows. Regula knows everything that could happen, everything that will happen.” She looked up with a sudden thought. “We could go ask Regula what it told him.”
Kahlan shook her head. “I don’t know how. It only seems to talk to Richard. Besides, Richard wouldn’t want to know prophecy from the machine. Wasn’t that the point made in the scrolls–that he is the counter to prophecy through free will? He wouldn’t ask what was going to happen. For Richard, action is better than reaction. He would act.”
“Then that brings us right back to not knowing where he is.” Nicci went to one of the long mahogany tables and rested the fingertips of one hand on the polished top as she stared off in thought.
“Did he give any indication–anything at all–that might suggest where he was going?” General Zimmer asked. “Some kind of hint? It might not have seemed important at the time, but maybe he said something to indicate where he was going.”
Kahlan looked up at the big D’Haran general. She remembered him so well from when they were fighting in the war. In the mornings, when Captain Zimmer returned from a night of hunting with his men, he would bring Kahlan a string of ears from the enemy they had killed that night.
“Hunt him, Captain,” she said, deliberately reminding him of those special missions he was so good at.
He smiled at the memory and caught her meaning. “The men will keep looking. Don’t you worry–if he is in the palace, we will find him.”
Kahlan nodded as the man left to continue the search. Kahlan looked up suddenly and turned to Nicci.
“If he is in the palace.”
“What?”
“If they can’t find him, maybe it’s because he isn’t here in the palace.”
Vale frowned at the notion. “Mother Confessor, the entire pal
ace is surrounded by half people. He couldn’t take three steps out of here without them seeing him and jumping all over him. There’s no way he could leave the palace.”
Kahlan stood stiffly, considering it. “Of course there is.”
Nicci folded her arms as she stepped closer. “You think he may have gone somewhere in the sliph?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Then let’s go ask her,” Nicci said.
“Rikka, Nyda, take us on the shortest route to the room where the sliph’s well is located.”
Clapping fists to their hearts, they turned and started away, eager to find their Lord Rahl, happy that they now had a real clue as to what happened to Richard and Cassia.
“We’re lucky the sliph’s well room is in this section of the palace,” Rikka said.
“It could take hours to get there if it were at some distant part of the palace,” Nyda agreed. “We’re not far away from there.”
“That’s how he vanished so fast,” Kahlan said as she followed the two Mord-Sith, angry at herself for not realizing it sooner. “That’s why no one has seen him, I know it.”
“Where would he have gone?” Nicci asked. “And why? It doesn’t make any sense. All of our problems are here. Sulachan, Hannis Arc, and the entire Shun-tuk nation are right outside, surrounding the palace. That’s what Richard needed to deal with. There is nowhere for him to go that would get him any help.”
Kahlan couldn’t argue with that logic, so she didn’t.
It had to be that Richard had already left the palace in the sliph. The more Kahlan thought about it, the more it explained how he had vanished so fast and so completely. She was sure of it, but only the sliph could confirm it. Her thoughts raced as she tried to figure out why he would have left.
“He wouldn’t abandon us here,” Vale said. “Lord Rahl would die before he would abandon us.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Kahlan said under her breath.