Blood of the Fold (27 page)

Richard stared at the tall mahogany door after it had closed. It was refreshing to see a person with such a guileless nature that she would come to the Confessors’ Palace, among so many important, finely dressed people, wearing an outfit made of tattered patches of different-colored cloth. Everyone must have thought her mad. Richard looked down at his simple, filthy clothes. He wondered if they thought him mad, too. Maybe he was.

“
Lord Rahl,” Cara asked, “how did you know she was a sorceress?”

“
She was shrouded in her Han. Couldn’t you see it in her eyes?”

Her red leather creaked as she leaned a hip against the desk beside him. “We would know a woman to be a sorceress if she tried to use her power on us, but not before. What is Han?”

Richard wiped a hand across his face as he yawned. “Her inner power—the force of life. Her magic.”

Cara shrugged. “You have magic, so you could see it. We could not.”

His thumb stroked the hilt of his sword as he answered with an absent grunt.

Over time, without realizing it, he had come to an awareness of the aspect of magic in a person—if they were using their magic, he could usually see it in their eyes. Though singular to each person, or perhaps the specific nature of their magic, there was a commonality Richard could recognize. Maybe, as Cara said, it was because he had the gift, or maybe it was simply the experience of having seen the distinctive, timeless look in the eyes of so many people with magic: Kahlan, Adie the bone woman, Shota the witch woman, Du Chaillu the spirit woman of the Baka Ban Mana, Darken Rahl, Sister Verna, Prelate Annalina, and countless other Sisters of the Light.

The Sisters of the Light were sorceresses, and he had often seen the unique glaze of distant intensity in their eyes when they were joined with their Han. Sometimes, when they were enveloped in a shroud of magic, he could almost see the air about them crackle. There were Sisters who seemed to radiate an aura of such power that when they walked past him the fine hairs at the back of his neck stood on end.

Richard had seen that same look in Lunetta’s eyes; she had been shrouded in her Han. What he didn’t know was why—why she would be standing there, doing nothing, yet touching her Han. Sorceresses usually didn’t let their Han envelop them unless it was to a purpose, the same way he usually didn’t draw his sword and its attendant magic without a reason. Maybe it simply pleased her childlike temper, the way those patches of colored cloth did. Richard didn’t think so.

What concerned him was that it could have been that Lunetta was trying to ascertain if he was telling the truth. He didn’t know enough about magic to know for sure if that was possible, but sorceresses often seemed somehow to know if he was being truthful, making it seem that every time he told a lie it couldn’t have been any more obvious to them had his hair suddenly burst into flames. He hadn’t wanted to take a chance, and had been careful not to be caught in a lie in front of Lunetta, especially about Kahlan being dead.

Brogan had certainly been interested in the Mother Confessor. Richard wished he could believe he was telling the truth; what he had said made enough sense. Maybe it was just his concern for Kahlan’s safety that made him suspicious of everything.

“
That man looks like trouble waiting to find a roost,” he said aloud without intending to.

“
Would you like us to clip his wings, Lord Rahl?” Berdine flicked her Agiel on the end of the chain at her wrist and caught it in her fist. She cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe something a little lower?” The other two Mord-Sith chuckled.

“
No,” Richard said in a tired voice. “I’ve given my word. I’ve asked them all to do something unprecedented, something that will forever change their lives. I have to do as I said I would, and give them all the chance to see that this is right, that it’s for the common good, the best chance for peace.”

Gratch yawned, showing his fangs, and sat down on the floor behind Richard’s chair. Richard hoped the gar wasn’t as tired as he was. Ulic and Egan seemed to ignore the conversation; they stood, relaxed, with their hands clasped behind their backs. They seemed to be a match for some of the pillars around the room. Their eyes were not relaxed, however; they constantly surveyed the columns, corners, and alcoves, watching, even though the huge room was empty except for the eight of them around the ornate dais.

With a meaty thumb, General Reibisch idly burnished the bulbous gold base of a lamp at the edge of the dais. “Lord Rahl, did you mean what you said about the men not taking what they’ve won?”

Richard looked to the general’s troubled eyes. “Yes. That’s the way of our enemies, and not ours. We fight for freedom, not plunder.”

The general averted his eyes as he nodded his assent.

“
Do you have something to say about that, General?”

“
No, Lord Rahl.”

Richard flopped back in his chair. “General Reibisch, I’ve been a woods guide since I was old enough to be trusted; I’ve never had to command an army before. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about the position I find myself in. I could use your help.”

“
My help? What sort of help, Lord Rahl?”

“
I could use your experience. I would appreciate it if you expressed your opinion instead of holding it back and saying ‘Yes, Lord Rahl.’ I may not agree with you, and I may get angry, but I’ll never punish you for telling me what you think. If you disobey my orders, I’ll replace you, but you’re free to say what you think of them. That’s one of the things we’re fighting for.”

The general clasped his hands behind his back. The muscles of his arms glistened under the chain mail, and Richard could see, too, under the rings of metal, the white scars of his rank. “D’Haran troops have a custom of plundering those we defeat. The men expect it.”

“
Past leaders may have tolerated it, or even encouraged it, but I will not.”

His sigh was comment enough to understand. “As you wish, Lord Rahl.”

Richard rubbed his temples. He had a headache from lack of sleep. “Don’t you understand? This isn’t about conquering lands and taking things from others; this is about fighting oppression.”

The general rested a boot on the gilded rung of a chair and hooked a thumb behind his wide belt. “I don’t see much difference. From my experience, the Master Rahl always thinks he knows best, and always wants to rule the world. You are your father’s son. War is war. Reasons make no difference to us; we fight because we are told to, same as those on the other side. Reasons mean little to a man swinging his sword, trying to keep his head.”

Richard slammed a fist to the desk. Gratch’s glowing green eyes became alert. In his peripheral vision, Richard could see red leather move protectively closer.

“
The men who went after the butchers of Ebinissia had a reason! That reason, and not plunder, was what sustained them and gave them the strength they needed in order to prevail. They were a detachment of five thousand Galean recruits who had never before been in battle, and yet they defeated General Riggs and his army of over fifty thousand men.”

General Reibisch’s heavy brow drew together. “Recruits? Surely you’re mistaken, Lord Rahl. I knew Riggs; he was an experienced soldier. Those were battle-hardened troops. I’ve received reports from the sights of those battles; they are grisly in the detail of what happened to those men as they tried to fight their way out of the mountains. They could only have been annihilated in such a fashion by an overwhelming force.”

“
Then I guess Riggs wasn’t as experienced a soldier as he needed to be. While you have secondhand reports, I heard the story from an unimpeachable source who was there to see it done. Five thousand men, boys, really, came upon Ebinissia after Riggs and his men were finished butchering the women and children. Those recruits pursued Riggs, and took his army down. When it was finished, less than a thousand of those young men were left standing, but not Riggs nor a single one of his force was left alive.”

Richard left unsaid that without Kahlan there to teach them what needed to be done, and lead them into the first battles, directing them in the forge of combat, those recruits probably would have been ground into carrion within a day. At the same time he knew it was their commitment to see the job done that gave them the courage to listen to her, and to go up against impossible odds.

“
That is the power of motivation, General. That is what men can do when they have a powerful reason, a righteous cause.”

A sour expression puckered his scarred face. “D’Harans have been fighting most of their lives, and know what they’re about. War is about killing; you kill them before they can kill you, that’s all. Whoever wins is the one who was right.

“
Reasons are the spoils of victory. When you’ve destroyed the enemy, then your leaders write down the reasons in books, and give moving speeches about them. If you’ve done your job, then there aren’t any of the enemy left to dispute your leader’s reasons. At least not until the next war.”

Richard raked his fingers through his hair. What was he doing? What did he think he could accomplish if those fighting on his own side didn’t believe in what he was trying to do?

Overhead, across the plastered ceiling of the dome, the painted figure of Magda Searus, the first Mother Confessor, Kahlan had told him, and her wizard, Merritt, looked down on him. In disapproval, it seemed.

“
General, what I was trying to do tonight, talking to those people, was about trying to stop the killing. I’m trying to make it possible for peace and freedom to have a chance to take root for good.

“
I know it sounds a paradox, but don’t you see? If we behave with honor, then all those lands with integrity, who want peace and freedom, will join us. When they see we fight to stop the fighting, and not simply to conquer and dominate, or for plunder, they will be on our side, and the forces of peace will be invincible.

“
For now, the aggressor makes the rules, and our only choice is to fight or submit, but …”

He sighed in frustration as he thumped his head back against the chair. He closed his eyes; he couldn’t bear to meet the gaze of the wizard Merritt overhead. Merritt looked as if he were about to launch into a lecture on the folly of presumption.

He had just publicly declared his intention to rule the world, and for reasons his own followers thought were empty talk. He was suddenly beginning to feel hopelessly foolish. He was just a woods guide turned Seeker, not a ruler. Just because he had the gift he was starting to think he could make a difference. Gift. He didn’t even know how to use his gift.

How could he be so arrogant as to think this would work? He was so tired he couldn’t think straight. He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept.

He didn’t want to rule anyone, he just wanted it all to stop so he could be with Kahlan and live his life without any fighting. The night before with her had been bliss. That was all he wanted.

General Reibisch cleared his throat. “I’ve never fought for anything before, any reason, I mean, other than my bond. Maybe it’s time I tried it your way.”

Richard came off the back of the chair and frowned at the man. “Are you just saying that because you think that’s what I want to hear?”

“
Well,” the general said as he picked with a thumbnail at the carvings of acorns along the edge of the desk, “the spirits know no one would believe this, but soldiers want peace more than most people, I’d expect. We just don’t dare to dream about it because we see so much killing that we get to thinking it can’t ever end, and if you dwell on it, you’ll get soft, and getting soft gets you killed. If you act like you’re keen for a fight, it gives your enemies pause, lest they give you a reason. Like the paradox you spoke of.

“
Seeing all that fighting and killing makes you wonder if there’s anything to you but doing as you’re bidden, and killing people. Makes you wonder if you’re some kind of monster, good for nothing else. Maybe that’s what happened to those men who attacked Ebinissia; maybe they just finally gave in to the voice in their head.

“
Maybe, like you say, if we can do this, the killing would finally stop.” He pressed back a long splinter he had worked loose. “I guess a soldier always hopes that once he kills all the people who want to kill him, then he can try laying down his sword. The spirits know that no one hates fighting more than many of those who have to do it.” He let out a long sigh. “Ahh, but no one would believe that.”

Richard smiled. “I believe it.”

The general glanced up. “It’s rare to find someone who understands the true cost of killing. Most either glorify or are repelled by it, never feeling the pain of infliction and the agony of responsibility. You’re good at killing. I’m glad you don’t relish it.”

Richard’s gaze left the general, and sought the consoling gloom of the shadows among the arches between marble columns. As he had told the assembled representatives, he was named in prophecy; in one of the oldest prophecies, in High D’Haran, he was called
fuer grissa ost drauka
: the bringer of death. He was thrice named: the one who could bring the place of the dead and the world of the living together by tearing the veil to the underworld; the one who brought the spirits of the dead forth, which he did when he used the magic of his sword and danced with death; and in its most base meaning, one who kills.

Berdine clapped Richard on the back, jarring his teeth and breaking the uncomfortable silence. “You didn’t tell us you had found yourself a bride. I hope you plan on a bath before the wedding night, or she’ll turn you out.” The three women laughed.