“I know,” Kahlan said. “I know that condemning a man to death weighs heavily on him. I, myself, have had to order the deaths of people. In a time of peace, you have the luxury of order, but in war you must act. Hesitation is death.”
“And have you told that to Richard?”
Kahlan smiled. “Of course I have. He knows he did what he had to, and that those of us close to him understand. In his place I would have done the same, and I told him so.”
“Someday, I hope to have a woman of half your strength.” Drefan smiled. “To say nothing of your beauty. Well, I must be off.”
Kahlan watched him walk away. His trousers were still too tight. She blushed at the thought, and turned back to her work.
Nadine was in the sick room, tending to people in two rows of beds. The infirmary held twenty beds, and they were all full, with more people on blankets on the floor. There were others sick in other rooms.
“Thanks,” Nadine said, when Kahlan set down the clean things she had brought. Nadine was putting herbs in pots, making teas. Other women who tended the sick were changing sheets, cleaning and wrapping open sores, or serving tea to the patients.
Nadine plucked a cloth from the basket, dipped it in a basin of water, wrung it out, and laid it across the forehead of a moaning woman. Nadine patted the woman’s shoulder.
“There you go, dear. How does that feel?”
The woman managed only a weak smile and nod.
Kahlan did the same for several more people, dabbing a cool, damp cloth to their sweaty faces, offering soft words of comfort.
“You could be a healer,” Nadine said as she paused beside Kahlan. “You have a kind touch.”
“That’s the only thing I know to do. I couldn’t heal anyone.”
Nadine leaned close. “And do you think I am?”
Kahlan glanced around the room. “I see what you mean. But at least you have devoted your life to helping people. My life is devoted to duty. To fighting.”
“What do you mean?”
“In the end, I am a warrior. My duty is to hurt people in order to save others. It is left to people like you to heal those remaining, when people like me are finished fighting.”
Nadine stood close to her. “Sometimes, I wish I was a warrior, and could fight to end the suffering, so that there wouldn’t be so many wounded for the healers to tend to.”
Kahlan finally had to leave the room. She couldn’t stand the stink, and the smoke was making her sick. Nadine felt the same, and went with her. They both slid their backs down the wall and sat on the floor.
“I feel helpless,” Nadine said. “Back home, if someone had a headache, I’d give him something and he’d get to feeling better. If a woman was pregnant, I’d help settle her stomach, or I’d help deliver the baby when it was time. It seemed I was always helping people.
“This is different. All I do is comfort people who are going to die, and wonder the whole time if it will be me on the bed tomorrow. I don’t know what to do for any of them. I feel totally useless. I wish I’d come here to help these people, instead of watching them die.”
“I know,” Kahlan whispered. “It must have been a lot more satisfying to help a woman deliver a baby.”
Nadine stared off in thought. “Sometimes a woman would tell me that it seemed like it would never happen, that it seemed unreal. She’d wait, knowing it would happen, but never really believing it, dreading the things she’d heard about how hard it would be. Dreading the pain. Sometimes they think things will change, like they’ll wake up one day and not be pregnant, or something.
“Then, the baby would come. Suddenly, she’ll be in a panic. The time has come. She’ll be terrified that it’s really happening, at last. Sometimes they’ll scream just from that fear, the fear of the pain. That’s when I can help them. I’m there with them. I reassure them that it will be all right.
“For the first time, for some of them, they finally believe it’s happening. I guess it’s only natural to dread such a profound change in their lives. Until it’s over, until the day is upon them, some of them are miserable with dread.”
Together, in the silence of the hall, they sat, resting, listening to the moans from the sick room.
“Nadine, you still think you will end up marrying Richard, don’t you?”
Nadine glanced over, scratching her freckled nose, but she didn’t answer.
“I didn’t ask that to—to start in on you, or anything. I just meant, well, like you said, you might end up on one of those beds in there. I was just thinking… it could be me, too. I could get the plague, or something.”
Nadine watched her. “You won’t. Don’t say that. You won’t get it.”
Kahlan ran her thumbnail along a joint in the floorboards. “But I could. I was just thinking that if I did, or something, well, what about Richard? He’d be alone.”
“What are you saying?”
Kahlan looked into Nadine’s soft brown eyes. “If for some reason you ended up being the one with him, instead of me, you’d be good to him, wouldn’t you? You’d always be good to him?”
Nadine swallowed. “Of course I would.”
“I’m serious, Nadine. There’s so much happening. I want to know that you wouldn’t ever hurt him.”
“I’d never hurt Richard.”
“You hurt him before.”
Nadine turned away and scratched her shoulder. “That was different. I was trying to win him. I would have done anything to get him to be with me. I already explained it to you.”
“I know.” Kahlan picked at a little stone stuck in the crack between the floorboards. “But if something happened, and it turned out that you were… the one, the one to marry him, I want to know that you’d never do anything like that to him again.
“I’d like to hear it from you, that you would never do anything to hurt Richard. Anything.”
Nadine met Kahlan’s eyes for a moment before glancing away.
“If I ever ended up with Richard, I would make him the happiest man in the world. I’d take the best care of him that any woman ever took of any man. I would love him better than—well, I’d do my very best to make him happy.”
Kahlan felt the familiar pain gnawing at her insides. She endured it. “Do you swear that that’s the truth?”
“Yes.”
Kahlan looked away and wiped at her eyes. “Thanks, Nadine. That’s what I wanted to know.”
“Why are you asking me such a thing?”
Kahlan cleared her throat. “As I said, I’m worried that I might get the plague, too. If anything happens, I could bear it better if I knew that there was someone who would take care of Richard.”
“Near as I can figure, Richard pretty much takes care of himself. Do you know that that man can cook better than me?”
Kahlan laughed. Nadine laughed with her.
“Isn’t that the truth?” Kahlan said. “I guess, where Richard is concerned, a woman can only hope to go along with him for the ride.”
“Lord Rahl!”
Richard turned to see General Kerson calling out for him. He let go of Kahlan’s hand. Cara glided to a stop behind Kahlan.
“Yes, what is it, general?”
The general came to a halt, waving a letter. A dusty, tired looking soldier followed behind, along with the general’s usual guard.
“A message from General Reibisch, with his army to the south.” The general lifted a thumb. “Grissom here just rode in.”
Richard glanced to the young soldier, still panting to get his breath. He smelled like a horse. Richard thought he would much rather smell like a horse and be out riding than sitting in a little room day after day translating the mad account of a trial and execution. He guessed that if his labors were doing him any good, he might feel differently.
He broke the seal and opened the letter. When he finished reading it, he handed the letter to Kahlan.
“Take a look.” While Kahlan read the letter, Richard turned to the messenger. “How is our a
rmy to the south doing?”
“Fine when I left them, Lord Rahl,” Grissom said. “The Sisters of the Light caught up with us, as they said you told them to do. They’re all together with our men. We’re awaiting orders.”
The letter had said much the same thing. When Kahlan had finished reading, Richard took the letter and handed it to General Kerson. The general idly scratched his graying hair as he read the letter. He looked up when he had finished.
“What do you think, Lord Rahl?”
“Makes sense to me. I don’t think we should bring all those men back up north right now. As General Reibisch says, they would be in a position to know about it if the Order moves very far into the New World. What do you think?” Richard asked, as he passed the letter back to Cara.
The general hiked up his trousers. “I agree with Reibisch. I’d want to do the same if I were him. He’s already down there, why not put him to good use? As he says, it would be best to know what the Order is up to, and if the enemy does come up north to attack us, he will be in a position to bite their ass.” He winced. “Sorry, Mother Confessor.”
Kahlan smiled. “My father was a warrior, general, before he was king. It brings back memories.” She didn’t say if they were good memories. “I also agree about the strategic advantage of having an army in that position.”
Cara handed the letter back to Richard. “He’s right about one other thing, too. If he abandons his position, and the Order went to the northeast, they would be able to sweep into D’Hara unopposed. We wouldn’t even know about it. That part of D’Hara is sparsely populated. The Order could drive north and we would never know it until they cut west, back into the Midlands.”
“Unless they pushed straight for the People’s Palace,” the general said.
“That would be a fatal mistake—attacking the heart of D’Hara,” Cara said. “Commander General Trimack of the First File of the Palace Guard would show the enemy why no army has ever attacked the palace and had so much as a single soldier live to recount the tale of their bloody defeat. The cavalry would cut them to pieces out on the Azrith Plains.”
“She’s right,” the general said. “If the enemy goes there, the vultures will feast—Trimack will see to that. If they did go northeast up into D’Hara, it would be to flank us. Best to have Reibisch guarding the gate.”
Richard had another reason to want General Reibisch’s army to stay south.
“Lord Rahl,” the messenger asked, “may I ask a question?”
“Of course. What is it?”
Grissom fussed with the hilt of his short sword. “What’s going on in the city? I mean, I saw men hauling carts with dead people, and I saw others going through the streets calling for people to bring out their dead.”
Richard took a deep breath. “That’s the other reason we want General Reibisch to stay down south. The plague is loose in the Midlands. Last night, seven hundred fifty people died.”
“The spirits preserve us.” Grissom wiped his palms on his hips. “I was afraid it might be something like that.”
“I want you to take my reply back to General Reibisch. Having been here, I don’t want you to carry the plague to him, too. When you get back, you are to pass my message along verbally.
“Don’t approach any of his men, or any people for that matter, any closer than you must in order to be heard. When you get to their sentries, tell them to pass the message on to the general. Tell him that I find his reasoning to be sound. All of the command here agrees with him. Tell him to carry on with his plans and to keep us informed.
“Now that you’ve been here, you can’t return to those men. You’ll have to come back here, when you’ve delivered the message. I want you to take a good-sized patrol with you to make sure you get our instructions through, then all of you come back here.”
Grissom saluted with a fist to his heart. “It shall be as you command, Lord Rahl.”
“I wish I could let you return to your men, soldier, but we’re trying to keep the plague from getting to the army. We have the soldiers here spread out around the city so they don’t come down sick. You can tell them that, too.”
General Kerson scratched his face. “Ah, Lord Rahl, I have to talk to you about that. I just found out myself.”
Richard frowned at the general’s sudden wincing expression. “What is it?”
“Ah, well, the plague has gotten to our men.”
Richard felt his heart in his throat. “Which group?”
The general wiped a hand across his mouth. “All of them, Lord Rahl. Seems that the prostitutes have been visiting the camps. The women thought it would be safer than plying their trade in the city, what with those murders. I don’t know anything about how sickness spreads, but Drefan told me that that might have been the way it happened.”
Richard squeezed his temples between his thumb and second finger. He wanted to give up. He wanted to simply sit down on the floor and give up.
“I should never have had Tristan Bashkar put to death. I should have let him kill all those women. In the end, it would have saved countless lives. If I’d have known this, I’d have killed them all myself.”
He felt Kahlan’s hand touch his back in sympathy.
“Dear spirits,” he whispered. He could think of nothing else to say. “Dear spirits, what are we doing to ourselves? Those women have just unwittingly struck a blow for Jagang.”
“Do you want them executed, Lord Rahl?” General Kerson asked.
“No,” Richard said in a quiet voice. “The deed is done. It would serve no purpose, now. They didn’t do it intentionally to cause harm. They were just trying to keep themselves safe.”
Richard recalled the words of one of the temple team before he was put to death. I can no longer countenance what we do with our gift. We are not the Creator, nor are we the Keeper. Even a vexatious prostitute has the right to live her life.
“Grissom, get a patrol together, and as soon as you’ve had some food and rest, get my message back to General Reibisch.”
Grissom saluted again. “Yes, Lord Rahl. I’ll get some food and supplies and be on my way within the hour.”
Richard nodded. The messenger took his leave.
“Lord Rahl,” the general said, “if there’s nothing else, I’d better see to my duties.”
“Yes, general, there is one more thing. Cut the sick soldiers out of the camps. Put them in a separate camp. Let’s see if we can limit the extent of the outbreak. Who knows, maybe we can even contain it.
“And I don’t want any prostitutes in the camps. None. Maybe we can keep the distemper lighter, that way. Have all the women warned to stay away under penalty of death. Post archers with the sentries. If they continue to approach after being challenged, have the archers cut them down.”
The general heaved a sigh. “I understand, Lord Rahl. I’ll also separate out the men who have been with those women and have them tend to the sick soldiers.”
“Good idea.”
Richard put his arm around Kahlan’s waist as he watched the general and his guard hurry to their tasks. “Why didn’t I think of that before? I might have kept the plague from the soldiers if only I’d thought of it.”
Kahlan didn’t have an answer.
“Lord Rahl,” Cara said, “I’m going up to the sliph to relieve Berdine.”
“I’ll go with you. I want to see if Berdine has learned anything from the journal. Besides, I need to get out of here for a while. You want to go, too?” he asked Kahlan.
Her arm tightened around him. “I’d like that.”
Berdine was bent over the journal, reading. The sliph looked Richard’s way before Berdine did.
“Do you wish to travel, Master? You will be pleased.”
“No,” Richard said when the echo of the eerie voice had died out. “Thank you, sliph, but not now.”
Berdine leaned back and yawned as she stretched her arms. “Glad to see you, Cara. I can’t stay awake any longer.”
“You look like you
could use some sleep.”
Richard gestured to the open journal on the table before her. “Anything new?”
Berdine glanced to the sliph as she stood. She picked up the journal and turned it around, offering it to him. She leaned closer and lowered her voice.
“You remember telling me about what that man said before he was put to death. What he said about even a vexatious… woman having a right to her life?”
Richard knew what Berdine was talking about. “Yes. You mean Wizard Ricker.”
“That’s the one. Well, Kolo mentioned it briefly.” She tapped a place in the journal. “Read here.”
Richard studied the sentence a moment until he had it translated in his head. “‘Ricker’s vexatious prostitute is watching me as I sit here pondering what damage the team has done. I heard today that we have lost Lothain. Ricker has had his revenge.’”
“Do you know who Lothain is?” Berdine asked.
“He was the head prosecutor at the Temple of the Winds trial. He was the one who went to undo the damage done by the team.”
Richard looked up. The sliph was watching him. He stepped closer. It had never occurred to him before. Why hadn’t he thought of it before?
“Sliph.”
“Yes, Master? You wish to travel? Come. You will be pleased.”
Richard stepped closer. “No, I don’t wish to travel, but I would like to talk to you. Do you remember the time, long ago, when there was a great war going on?”
“Long? I am long enough to travel. Tell me where you wish to go. You will be pleased.”
“No, I don’t mean traveling. Do you remember any names?”
“Names?”
“Names. Do you remember the name Ricker?”
The silver face watched without expression. “I never betray my clients.”
“Sliph, you were a person, once, weren’t you? A person like me?”
The sliph smiled. “No.”
Richard laid a hand on Kahlan’s shoulder. “A person like this?”
The silver smile widened. “Yes. I was a whore, like her.”
Kahlan cleared her throat. “I think Richard meant to ask if you were a woman, sliph.”
“Yes, I was a woman, too.”