Kahlan swallowed hard. “What can you teach me of it?”
“Nothing. I am sorry, but I have no understanding of its workings. It be something only your mother can teach, when you reached the age of woman. Since your mother did not show you, the teaching be lost. But the power be still there. Be warned. Just because you were not taught its use does not mean it cannot come out.”
“Did you know my mother?” Kahlan asked in a painful whisper.
Adie’s face softened as she looked at Kahlan. She nodded slowly. “I remember your family name. And I remember her green eyes; they not be easy to forget. You have her eyes. When she carried you, I knew her.”
A tear rolled down Kahlan’s cheek, and her voice came in the same painful whisper. “My mother wore a necklace, with a small bone on it. She gave it to me when I was a child. I wore it always, until… until, Dennee, the girl I called my sister… when she died, I buried it with her. She had always been fond of it. You gave that necklace to my mother, didn’t you?”
Adie closed her eyes and nodded. “Yes child. I gave it to her to protect her unborn daughter, to keep her child safe, that she might grow to be strong, like her mother. I can see that she has.”
Kahlan slipped her arms around the old woman. “Thank you, Adie,” she said tearfully, “for helping my mother.” Adie held the crutch with one hand, and with the other rubbed Kahlan’s back in genuine sympathy. After a few moments Kahlan separated from the old woman and wiped the tears from her eyes.
Richard saw his opening, and went for it with single-minded determination.
“Adie,” he said in a soft voice, “you helped Kahlan before she was born. Help her now. Her life and the lives of a great many others are at stake. Darken Rahl hunts her, hunts me. We need the help of these two men. Please help them. Help Kahlan.”
Adie gave him her small smile. She nodded her head a little to herself. “The wizard chooses his Seekers well. Fortunately for you, patience be not a prerequisite for the post. Be at ease; I would not have had you bring them in if I did not intend to help them.”
“Well, perhaps you cannot see,” he pressed, “but Zedd especially is in bad shape. His breathing is hardly there at all.”
Adie’s white eyes regarded him with strained tolerance. “Tell me,” she said in her dry rasp, “do you know Kahlan’s secret, the one she keeps from you?”
Richard said nothing and tried to show no emotion. Adie turned to Kahlan.
“Tell me, child, do you know the secret he keeps from you?” Kahlan said nothing. Adie looked back to Richard. “Does the wizard know of the secret you keep from him? No. Do you know the secret the wizard keeps from you? No. Three blind people. Hmm? Seems I be able to see better than you.”
Richard wondered what secret Zedd was keeping from him. He lifted an eyebrow. “And which of these secrets do you know, Adie?”
She pointed a thin finger at Kahlan. “Hers only.”
Richard was relieved, but tried to let his face show nothing. He had been on the verge of panic. “Everyone has secrets, my friend, and has a right to keep them when there is need.”
Her smile widened. “That be true, Richard Cypher.”
“Now, what about these two?”
“Do you know how to heal them?” she asked.
“No. If I did, I obviously would have already done so.”
“Your impatience is to be forgiven; it be only right for you to fear for the lives of your friends. I bear you no ill will for your concern. But be at ease, they have been receiving help from the moment you brought them in.”
Richard gave her a confused look. “Really?”
She nodded. “They be struck down by underworld beasts. It will take time for them to wake, days. How many I cannot say. But they be dry. Lack of water will be the death of them, therefore they must be brought awake enough to drink, or they will die. The wizard breathes slow not because he be worse, but because that be the way wizards save strength in time of trouble—they go into a deeper sleep. I must bring them both awake to drink. You will not be able to talk to them, they will not know you, so be not afraid when you see it. Go to the corner, bring the water bucket.”
Richard retrieved the water and then helped Adie lower herself to sit cross-legged at the heads of Zedd and Chase. She pulled Kahlan down next to her. She asked Richard to bring a bone implement from the shelf.
Part of it looked very much like a human thighbone. The entire object had a dark brown patina, and looked to be ancient. Down the shaft of the bone were carved symbols Richard didn’t recognize. At one end were two skull tops, one to each side of the ball. They had been cut smoothly into half spheres, and covered with dried skin of some kind. In the center of each skin was a knot that looked like a navel. Spaced evenly around each skin, where it stretched across the skull edge, were tufts of coarse black hair tied on with beaded thread that matched that around the neck of Adie’s robe. The skull tops looked like they could be human. Something inside rattled.
Richard handed it respectfully to Adie. “What makes the rattle?”
Without looking up, she said, “Dried eyes.”
Adie shook the bone rattle gently from side to side over the heads of Zedd and Chase while mumbling a chant in the strange language in which she had spoken to Kahlan. The rattle made a hollow, wooden sound. Kahlan sat cross-legged next to her, head bowed. Richard stood back and watched.
After ten or fifteen minutes, Adie motioned with her hand for him to come closer. Zedd suddenly sat up and opened his eyes. Richard realized she wanted him to give him water. She continued to chant as he dipped the ladle in and held it up to Zedd’s mouth. He drank thirstily. Richard was thrilled to see the old man sit up and open his eyes, even if he couldn’t talk, even if he didn’t know where he was. Zedd drank half a bucket of water. When finished, he lay back down and closed his eyes. Chase was next, and he drank the other half of the water.
Adie handed Richard the bone rattle and asked him to return it to the shelf. Next she had him bring the bone pile from the corner and stack half over Zedd’s body, half over Chase’s, directing him on how to place each bone, to some alignment that only she could see or understand. Finally she had him stack rib bones in a wagon-wheel pattern with the hub centered over each man’s chest. When he finished, she complimented him on doing a fine job, but he felt no pride, because she had directed his hand at each turn. Adie looked up at him with her white eyes.
“Can you cook?”
Richard thought about the time Kahlan had told him that his spice soup was like hers, and that their two lands were much the same. Adie was from the Midlands; maybe she would like something from her homeland. He smiled at her.
“I would be honored to make you some spice soup.”
She put her hands together in a swoon. “That would be wonderful. I have not had a proper spice soup in years.”
Richard went to the opposite corner of the room and sat at the table, cutting up vegetables and mixing spices. For over an hour, as he worked, he watched the two women sitting on the floor, talking in the strange language. Two women catching up on the news from home, he thought happily. He was in a good mood; someone was finally doing something to help Zedd and Chase. Someone who knew what the problem was. When he was finished and had the soup on the fire, he didn’t want to disturb them—they looked like they were enjoying themselves—so he asked Adie if he could cut some firewood for her. She seemed pleased by the idea.
He went outside and removed the tooth from around his neck, putting it in his pocket, and left his shirt on the porch to keep it dry. He took the sword with him to the back of the house, where Adie had told him he would find the firewood pile. Placing logs on the sawbuck, he cut off pieces to length. Most of the wood was birch, easiest for an old woman to cut. He picked out the rock maple, excellent firewood but tough cutting. The woods nearby were dark and dense, but they didn’t feel threatening. They felt welcoming, enveloping, safe. Still, there was the last man of the quad out there somewhere, hunting
Kahlan.
He thought about Michael, hoped he was safe. Michael didn’t know what Richard was doing and probably wondered where he was. He was probably worried. Richard had planned on going to Michael’s house after they left Zedd’s place, but there had been no time. Rahl had almost caught them. He wished he had been able to get word to his brother. Michael was going to be in great danger when the boundary failed.
When he tired of sawing, he split what he had cut. It felt good to use his muscles, to sweat from labor, to do something that didn’t require him to think. The cool rain felt good on his hot body, making the work easier. To amuse himself, he imagined the wood was Darken Rahl’s head as he brought the axe down. For variation he sometimes imagined it to be a gar. When the piece of wood was particularly tough, he imagined it to be the red-haired man’s head.
Kahlan came out, and asked him if he was ready to come eat. He hadn’t even realized it was getting dark. After she left, he went to the well and poured a bucket of cold water over himself, washing off the sweat. Kahlan and Adie were sitting at the table, and since there were only two chairs, he brought in a log round to sit on. Kahlan set a bowl of soup in front of him as he sat down, and handed him a spoon.
“You have given me a wonderful gift, Richard,” Adie said.
“And what would that be?” He blew on a spoonful of soup to cool it.
She looked at him with her white eyes. “Without taking offense, you have given me the time to talk to Kahlan in my native tongue. You cannot know what joy that be for me. So many years it has been. You are a very perceptive man. You are a true Seeker.”
Richard beamed at her. “You have given me something very precious too. The lives of my friends. Thank you, Adie.”
“And your spice soup be wonderful,” she added, with a hint of surprise.
“Yes.” Kahlan winked at him. “It’s as good as I make.”
“Kahlan has told me about Darken Rahl, and about the boundary failing,” Adie said. “It explains much. She has told me that you know of the pass, and wish to cross into the Midlands. Now you must decide what you will do.” She took a spoonful of soup.
“What do you mean?”
“They must be awakened every day to drink, and they must be fed a gruel. Your friends be asleep for many days, five, maybe ten. You must decide, as Seeker, if you are to wait for them, or go on. We cannot help you; you must decide.”
“That would be a lot of work for you to do by yourself.”
Adie nodded. “Yes. But it not be as much work as going after the boxes, as stopping Darken Rahl.” She ate some more soup as she watched him.
Richard stirred his spoon around absently in his bowl. There was a long silence. He looked to Kahlan, but she showed nothing. He knew she didn’t want to interfere with his decision. He looked back down at his soup.
“Every day that passes,” he said quietly at last, “brings Rahl closer to the last box. Zedd told me he has a plan. That does not mean it is a good plan. And there may not be time to use it when he awakes at last. We could lose before we start.” He looked up into Kahlan’s green eyes. “We can’t wait. We can’t take the chance; too much is at risk. We must leave without him.” Kahlan gave him a smile of reassurance. “I wasn’t planning on letting Chase go with us anyway. I have a more important job for him.”
Adie reached across the table and put her weathered hand on his. It felt soft and warm. “It not be an easy choice to make. It not be easy to be Seeker. That which lies ahead be difficult beyond your worst fears.”
He forced a smile. “At least I still have my guide.”
The three of them sat in silence, considering what must be done.
“You both will have a good sleep tonight,” Adie said. “You will need it. After supper, I will tell you what you will need to know to get through the pass.” She looked to each of them in turn; her voice became even raspier. “And I will tell you how I lost my foot.”
17
Richard placed the lamp on the side of the table, close to the wall, and lit it with a stick from the fire. The sound of gentle rain and night creatures drifted in from the window. The chirps and calls of small animals going about their nocturnal lives were familiar to him, comforting sounds of home. Home. His last night in his homeland, and then he was to cross into the Midlands. As his father had done. He smiled to himself at the irony. His father had brought the Book of Counted Shadows out of the Midlands, and now he was taking it back.
He sat down on the log round, across from Kahlan and Adie. “So, tell me, how do we find the pass?”
Adie leaned back in her chair and swept her hand through the air. “You already have. You be in the pass. The mouth of it anyway.”
“And what do we need to know to get through it?”
“The pass be a void in the underworld, but it still be a land of the dead. You be living. The beasts hunt the living if the living be big enough to be of interest.”
Richard looked at Kahlan’s impassive face, then back to Adie. “What beasts?”
Adie’s long finger pointed to each wall of the room in turn. “They be the bones of the beasts. Your friends were touched by things of the underworld. The bones confuse their powers. That be why I said your friends were being helped from the moment you brought them in here. The bones cause the magic poison to leave their bodies, letting the death sleep lift. The bones keep the evil away from here. The beasts cannot find me because they feel the evil of the bones and it blinds them, makes them think I be one of them.”
Richard leaned forward. “If we took some of the bones with us, would that protect us?”
Adie smiled her little smile, making her eyes wrinkle. “Very good. That be exactly what you must do. These bones of the dead have the magic to help protect you. But there be more. Listen carefully to what I tell you.”
Richard folded his fingers together and nodded.
“You cannot take your horses, the trail be too small for them. There be places they cannot fit. You must not wander from the trail—it be very dangerous to do so. And you must not stop to sleep. It will take one day, one night, and most of the next day to cross.”
“Why can’t we stop to sleep?” Richard asked.
Adie looked to each of them with her white eyes. “There be other things, besides the beasts, in the pass. They will get you if you stop long enough.”
“Things?” Kahlan asked.
Adie nodded. “I go into the pass often. If you are careful, it be safe enough. If you are not careful, there be things that will get you.” Her raspy voice lowered bitterly. “I became overconfident. One day I was walking a long time, and became very tired. I was sure of myself, sure I knew the dangers well, so I sat against a tree and took a small nap. For a few minutes only.” She put her hand on her leg, rubbing it slowly. “When I was asleep, a gripper fixed itself on my ankle.”
Kahlan scrunched up her features. “What’s a gripper?”
Adie regarded her in silence for a minute. “A gripper be an animal that has armor all over his back, spikes all around the bottom edge. Many legs underneath, each with a sharp, hooked claw at the end, a mouth like a leech with teeth all around. He wraps himself around, so only his armor is out. With his claws he digs into the flesh to hold tight so you cannot pull him off, and then he fixes his mouth to you, sucking the blood from you, tightening with the claws all the time.”
Kahlan put her hand reassuringly on Adie’s arm. The light from the lamp made the old woman’s white eyes a pale shade of orange. Richard didn’t move, his muscles tense.
“I had my axe with me.” Kahlan closed her eyes as her head lowered. Adie went on. “I tried to kill the gripper, or at least get him off me. I knew that if I did not, he would suck all the lifeblood from me. His armor be harder than the axe. I was very angry with myself. The gripper be one of the slowest creatures in the pass, but he be faster than a sleeping fool.” She looked into Richard’s eyes. “There be only one thing I could do to save my life. I could stand the pain no longer; his teet
h were scraping into the bone. I tied a strip of cloth tight around my thigh, and laid my lower leg across a log. I used the axe to chop off my foot and ankle.”
The silence in the small house was brittle. Only Richard’s eyes moved, to meet Kahlan’s. He saw sorrow there for the old woman, saw his own sorrow reflected. He couldn’t imagine the resolve it would take to use an axe to cut off your own foot. His stomach felt sick. Adie’s thin lips spread in a grim smile. With one hand she reached across the table to take Richard’s hand, and with the other hand, took Kahlan’s. She held their hands in a firm grip.
“I tell you this story not to have you feel sorry for me. I tell you only so you two will not become prey to something in the pass. Confidence can be a dangerous thing. Fear can keep you safe, sometimes.”
“Then I think we shall be very safe,” Richard said.
Adie continued to smile, and gave a single nod. “Good. There be one more thing. There be a place halfway through the pass, where the two walls of the boundary come very close together, almost touching. It be called the Narrows. When you come to a rock the size of this house, split down the middle, that be the place. You must pass through the rock. Do not go around it even though you may want to; death be that way. And then beyond, you must pass between the walls of the boundary. It be the most dangerous place in the pass.” She put a hand on Kahlan’s shoulder, and squeezed Richard’s hand tighter, looking to each in turn. “They will call to you from the boundary. They will want you to come to them.”
“Who?” Kahlan asked.
Adie leaned closer to her. “The dead. It could be anyone you know who be dead. Your mother.”
Kahlan bit her bottom lip. “Is it really them?”
Adie shook her head. “I don’t know, child. But I do not believe it to be.”
“I don’t think so, either,” Richard said, almost more to reassure himself.