Warheart (36 page)

“Yes”–Nicci tilted her head toward the hanging–“and it fits with all of this.”

The thin, silklike material hung dead still over the outside of the doorway. Nicci held the light sphere closer so he could see all of the symbols in the language of Creation covering the sheer material of the cloth. The symbols appeared backward because they had been painted onto the other side with a brush and ink.

Even with the symbols being backward, he could make out the meaning of a number of the more familiar symbols. He puzzled at others, though, trying to think if he had ever seen them before. While he recognized some of the compositional elements, he couldn't make sense of what they meant when combined. In the language of Creation, the sub-elements worked together to construct the primary expression, so the meaning of those sub-elements was to an extent dependent on how all the parts of the symbol worked together. While he thought some of the symbols looked somehow familiar, he couldn't recall where he had seen them.

“I don't recognize some of these symbols”–he gestured to several of the more complex emblems–“like this grouping, here.”

“You probably wouldn't,” the sorceress said. “These are ward spells.”

Richard frowned back at her. “Ward spells? What are they warding?”

Nicci's blue eyes turned up to look at him. “The dead.”

“How do you know?”

Nicci admonished him with a look. “I was a Sister of the Dark. These are things I recognize. They are dangerous spells and only used for the most dangerous of places.”

Richard couldn't help thinking about the words “Sanctuary of Souls” above the door.

“And they are meant to ward the dead?”

“In this case, yes. They are designed to stop the dead or any minions of the world of the dead. They act something like shields. But shields, like those rolling stones back in the caves in Stroyza, often have to be constructed. For that reason, shields are often difficult to create. Because these kinds of wards can even be painted on a piece of cloth, they are considerably easier to put up.”

Richard felt the thin cloth between his fingers and thumb. “Then why aren't wards like this used more often? Why bother with building shields when you can simply paint a few of the appropriate ward spells?”

Nicci gave him a look as if he had asked a stupid question. “Pretty hard to steal a giant rolling stone. Don't you think that for people without the ability to create them on their own, this kind of ward would be much easier to steal and use for their own purpose?”

“I suppose so,” Richard admitted as he studied the flimsy hanging cloth. “So these particular wards are specifically meant to stop spirits?”

“Yes. In this case there is no doubt that they are meant to repel the dead from this doorway. Since they are facing anything coming from out there, they are obviously meant to keep spirits of the dead out of the room with Lucy's well.”

“So then there are ghosts beyond this doorway?” Cassia asked.

Nicci drew her lower lip through her teeth as she studied the spell-forms on the cloth. “That would be my guess. I do know that spirits of the dead can't cross such wards. These keep them on the other side. They could serve no other purpose. Such dangerous spell-forms would not be here unless it was absolutely necessary.”

“You mean they act something like the skrin,” Kahlan asked, “repelling spirits from the veil to keep them from crossing through and keep them in the underworld?”

Nicci smiled. “That's a very good way to put it, Mother Confessor.”

Kahlan looked back at the cloth hanging. “It's beginning to make sense why what is out beyond is called the Sanctuary of Souls.”

“Yes,” Nicci agreed. “In a way, while it keeps them from crossing, it also creates a sanctuary for them where they feel safe. The underworld, with the skrin, is like that, too–it keeps them on that side, but it also creates a sanctuary for spirits where they won't be disturbed.”

Richard frowned as he studied the symbols. “I just realized where I've seen some of these symbols before.”

“Really?” Nicci asked. “I can't think of anywhere you would have seen such wards before.”

He turned away from the doorway to look at the sorceress. “I remember seeing some of these same ward spells on the enormous gates leading out of the third kingdom.”

Kahlan rubbed her arms. “That barrier to the third kingdom was put there an awfully long time ago, Richard. It was back in the great war. Are you saying that you think these were put here by the same people who built that barrier, and possibly for the same reason? Do you really think these have been here that long?”

Richard considered his answer a moment. “I don't have a way to know for sure, but that would be my guess. I suspect this has something to do with that war and what the people back then were doing to stop Sulachan. If that's true, then we're the first people to enter the Sanctuary of Souls since back in that time.”

“That's an unsettling thought,” Nicci said.

Kahlan gave them both an impatient look. “Regardless, what matters now is that we need to get to the sliph–if this really is the Keep. Like it or not, this is the only way out so let's get going.”

Despite what Nicci had done for him to give him strength, the dull ache of the poison was wearing on him. He knew Kahlan was right.

Richard pulled the cloth aside just enough to peer out into the hallway. It was dark, lit only by the light from the lanterns and the sphere Nicci had taken from a bracket on the wall. At the farthest reaches of where that light penetrated, he thought he saw movement. He stared, trying to see it again, or see what it was, but nothing moved when he looked where he thought he'd seen the movement. He wondered if it could be his imagination. He wished he could believe it was.

Kahlan clasped his arm, gently pulling him back briefly. “Lucy said that she was supposed to tell you to be careful out there. While it's important to remember that, sometimes it's more dangerous to do nothing. We're running out of time–you're running out of time. We need to get going.”

Richard circled his arm around her waist. “Spoken like the Mother Confessor.”

 

CHAPTER

45

Richard pushed the cloth aside, letting more of the light penetrate farther into the darkness. It looked like an empty hallway. He slipped past the cloth and stepped out into the desolate corridor.

The hall appeared to have been carved from the soft stone of the mountain, rather than built up of granite blocks the way he had always seen before down in the foundation area under the Keep. The walls, ceiling, and floor of the hallway had been cut square and flat, rather than simply being hollowed out like most of the passageways in Stroyza. It seemed a lot of trouble to go to for what looked to be a useless, empty hallway that merely led to the room with Lucy's well.

It also made no sense to him why this cold, empty place would be a sanctuary for souls.

The rest of them followed Richard out into the corridor. Nicci let the cloth fall back down across the doorway. Richard checked that everyone was close behind him before starting out. He didn't want to have to go looking for one of them in the pitch-black tunnel. As they moved through it in their confining cocoon of light, the only thing he could see was the pale brown stone of the walls. There was no plaster, no paint, no words carved in the wall, no furnishings, nothing to indicate what the place was for, other than getting to the well room.

He kept thinking about the words “Sanctuary of Souls” over the doorway into the corridor. It made no sense why this place had been built. Souls had the eternity of the underworld. What did they need with some stone tunnels?

Before they had gone far, a doorway appeared to the right. When they reached the opening, Richard let Cassia slip in ahead of him with her lantern. The room was good-sized and square, with the ceiling the same height as the hallway. There were no furnishings or markings of any kind. The walls were flat, without any niches cut into them. It was simply an empty, square room.

“Nothing,” Cassia said as she stepped back out.

Just as he started away, he thought he caught sight of movement back in the room. He stopped and stared back through the doorway. It seemed something shadowlike withdrew out of the pale light, shrinking back into the inky darkness inside the room.

“What?” Kahlan asked.

Richard stood frozen as he stared for a moment, and then he drew his sword. The sound of steel rang through the hallway, echoing back from the distance.

“What is it?” Nicci asked.

“There is something or someone in that room.”

Cassia slipped past him before he could stop her. She raced back into the room with her lantern, looking for what he might have seen.

She stuck her head back out the doorway. “Nothing, Lord Rahl. There isn't anyone in here. There isn't anywhere someone could possibly hide.”

“No one alive,” Richard said under his breath as he stared into the empty room.

He saw a shadow of movement behind Cassia. His grip tightened on the sword.

Nicci shoved him.

“We need to get out of here, Richard. You heard Lucy. She said to be careful in here. Standing around waiting for something to happen is not being careful. Looking for trouble is not being careful. Waiting for it to find you is not being careful. The sooner we get out of here and up into the Keep, the better.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Kahlan said.

“You're both right,” he admitted as he started out again, hurrying his pace.

They soon came to an intersection with opposing hallways branching off to the right and left. Cassia held her lantern up, looking down the one to the left while Vale held hers up to peer down the opposite corridor. Both passageways looked identical in width and height to the one they were in.

Vale pointed. “I think I see openings down there.”

Before Richard could stop her, she darted down the hallway to investigate. The cocoon of lamplight went with her as she trotted down the hallway, looking as if she were in a glowing bubble floating through the underworld. When she came to a doorway she turned to immediately disappear inside. He could see only the light through the opening moving about as she searched inside.

After a long moment of silence she emerged. “Nothing,” she called back, her voice echoing. “It looks just like the other room we saw.”

She moved down the hallway and looked in a half dozen of the other openings spaced at irregular intervals. After emerging from each she called back to report that it was empty. She searched all of the rooms in the area before finally returning.

Vale pointed a thumb back over her shoulder. “There are more intersections down there. I saw more dark doorways down other halls. Should I go look in them?”

“We shouldn't waste time looking in all of the rooms and down all the passageways,” Nicci said. “There is no telling how many there might be, and the rooms aren't what matters. What really matters is that we get out of here.”

“Which way do you think we should go?” Kahlan asked him.

Richard stared off into the darkness. He knew how easy it was to become lost in a place you didn't know, especially a place with no landmarks to enable you to keep track or orient yourself. Wandering aimlessly was dangerous.

“I have no way of knowing for sure. For now, let's keep going straight.”

They soon came to another cloth hanging to their left. When Richard pulled it aside he saw yet another pitch-black hallway. He let the cloth drop back so he could look at the symbols. These were facing toward him. Some he recognized as messages of comfort of a sort–he wasn't exactly sure of what they were trying to convey–and other symbols he didn't think he had ever seen before.

He gestured at the symbols before looking over his shoulder at Nicci. “Do you know what these mean? They look like they are meant to be comforting.”

“That's right. They are attractant spells.”

“Attractant spells?” Kahlan asked. “What are they attracting?”

“Spirits.” Nicci flicked a hand back the way they had come. “Some of the spell-forms, like back at the well room, are meant to keep spirits away. These are the opposite. They are meant to attract spirits.”

Richard imagined they must be something like fishing nets. What he couldn't figure out was why these were placed in the underground rooms to attract spirits, and others meant to keep them out.

As they moved on into the darkness the hallway made an abrupt right turn just before a cloth hanging across their way ahead, but when he pulled it aside there was only a wall. Since the hallway didn't continue on straight, they had to take the turn. They encountered more rooms, the doorways of many covered with the strange hanging cloth. Some were the silky material, while others were heavier material, something like burlap.

The rooms they came across, some with empty openings, were just as bare as all the others they had investigated. In each room Richard had the feeling that there was someone in there, in the darkness, watching him. He kept his sword out. He wasn't sure it would be of any use against spirits, but it made him feel better to have it in his hand than in its scabbard.

Moving through the darkness, they abruptly came upon a heavy burlap cloth blocking the hallway. Going around it he realized that it was only one of four cloths forming a square, several with passages behind them. One hanging covered in symbols had a blank wall behind it rather than a corridor.

They tried to continue on a straight course, but soon that became impossible as they found themselves in a complex network of passageways turning repeatedly and branching in every direction. To the sides, a few of the inky black tunnels didn't have hangings covering their opening, while others did.

The hallway split over and over, with intersections everywhere, many at odd angles, making it a dizzying choice of which route to take. In the darkness inside the mountain there was no way to get his bearings. It was as if the angles and corners were intended to disguise direction. Behind some hangings the corridor simply stopped in a dead end, forcing them to backtrack.