Blood of the Fold (90 page)

“
Simona, it’s Verna. Don’t be afraid, dear.”

Simona let out a shuddering cry. “He comes! He comes!”

Verna lit a gentle glow of Han in her palm. “I know. You’re not crazy, Sister Simona. He does come.”

“
We must escape! We must get away,” she cried. “Oh, please, we must get away before he gets here. He comes in my dreams and taunts me. I’m so afraid.” She fell to kissing her ring finger.

Verna gathered the trembling woman in her arms. “Simona, listen carefully to me. I have a way to save you from the dream walker. I can make you safe. We can get away.”

The woman stilled, blinking up at Verna. “You believe me?”

“
Yes. I know you’re telling the truth. But you must believe me, too, when I tell you the truth that I know a magic that will protect you from the dream walker.”

Simona wiped the tears from her filthy cheek. “Is it truly possible? How can it be done?”

“
You remember Richard? The young man I brought back?”

Simona nodded with a smile as she cuddled in Verna’s arms. “Who could forget Richard? Trouble and wonder in one package.”

“
Listen, now. Besides the gift, Richard has a magic which was passed down from his ancestors who fought the original dream walkers. It’s a magic that protects him, too, from the dream walkers. It also protects anyone who swears fidelity to him, who is loyal to him in every way. That was the reason the spell was originally cast—to fight the dream walkers.”

Her eyes widened. “That can’t be possible—mere loyalty conferring magic.”

“
Leoma has had me locked in a room down the hall. She put a collar around my neck and used the test of pain to try to break my will and make me renounce Richard. She told me that the dream walker wanted to come to me in my dreams, like he does you, but my fidelity to Richard prevented it. It works, Simona. I don’t know how, but it does. I’m protected from the dream walker. You can be, too.”

Sister Simona wiped wisps of gray hair back from her face. “Verna, I’m not crazy. I want this collar off my neck. I want to escape the dream walker. We must escape. What would you have me do?”

Verna gripped the small woman tighter. “Will you help us? Will you help the rest of the Sisters of the Light escape, too?”

Simona put her cracked lips to her ring finger. “On my oath to the Creator.”

“
Then swear an oath to Richard, too. You must be bonded to him.”

Simona pushed away and knelt with her forehead to the floor. “I swear fidelity to Richard. I swear my life to him on my hope to be sheltered by the Creator in the next world.”

Verna urged Simona to sit up. She put her hands to the side of the Rada’Han, letting her Han flow into it, join with it, the room droning with the effort. The collar snapped and fell away.

Simona let out a joyful cry as she hugged Verna. Verna embraced her tightly; she knew the joy of having the Rada’Han off her neck.

“
Simona, we must be going. We have much work to do, and not much time. I need your help.”

Simona wiped away her tears. “I’m ready. Thank you, Prelate.”

At the door with the bolt held on with the intricate web, Verna and Simona worked their Han together. The web had been set by three Sisters, and though Verna had that much power, it would still be a challenge to undo it. With Simona’s added help, the web slipped away easily.

The two guards outside the door started in surprise when they saw the filthy prisoners. Pikes came down.

Verna recognized one of the guards. “Walsh, you know me, now raise that pike.”

“
I know you’ve been convicted of being a Sister of the Dark.”

“
I know you don’t believe that.”

The point was menacingly close to her face. “What makes you think so?”

“
Because if it were true, I would have simply killed you in order to escape.”

He was silent for a moment as he considered. “Keep talking.”

“
We are at war. The emperor wishes to put the world under his fist. He uses the true Sisters of the Dark, like Leoma, and the new Prelate, Ulicia. You know them, and you know me. Who do you believe?”

“
Well … I’m not so sure.”

“
Then let me put it in terms that make it clear. You remember Richard?”

“
Of course. He’s a friend.”

“
Richard is at war with the Imperial Order. The time is upon you to choose sides. You must decide your loyalty, right now, right here. Richard, or the Order.”

His lips pressed together as he fought a mental battle. Finally, the butt of his pike thumped to the floor. “Richard.”

The other guard’s eyes shifted between Walsh and Verna. His pike suddenly thrust forward with the cry, “The Order!”

Verna already had a firm grip on her Han. Before the blade touched her, the man was blown back with such force that when he hit the wall, his head split open. He toppled to the floor, dead.

“
I guess I chose right,” Walsh said.

“
You did indeed. We must get the true Sisters of the Light, and the loyal young wizards, and we must be away from here at once. There isn’t a moment to waste.”

“
Let’s go,” Walsh said, holding his pike out, pointing the way.

Outside, in the warm night air, a thin figure sat on a bench nearby. When she recognized them, she sprang up.

“
Prelate!” she whispered with tearful joy.

Verna hugged Millie so tight the old woman squeaked for release. “Oh, Prelate, forgive the hateful things I said. I didn’t mean a word of it, I swear.”

Verna, nearly in tears, squeezed the woman again, and then kissed her forehead a dozen times. “Oh, Millie, thank you. You are the Creator’s best work. I will never forget what you’ve done for me, for the Sisters of the Light. Millie, we must escape. The emperor is going to take the palace. Will you come with us, please, so you will be safe?”

Millie shrugged. “Me? An old woman? On the run from cutthroat Sisters of the Dark and magic monsters?”

“
Yes. Please?”

Millie grinned in the moonlight. “Sounds more fun than scrubbing floors and emptying chamber pots.”

“
All right, all of you listen then, we …”

A tall shadow stepped out from behind the corner of the building. Everyone fell still and silent as the figure approached.

“
Well, Verna, it looks as if you found your way out. I thought you might.” She stepped close, where they could see her. It was Sister Philippa, Verna’s other advisor. She kissed her ring finger. Philippa’s narrow mouth spread in a smile. “Thank the Creator. Welcome back, Prelate.”

“
Philippa, we must get the Sisters away tonight, before Jagang gets here, or we will be captured and used.”

“
What are we to do, Prelate?” Sister Philippa asked.

“
All of you, listen carefully, now. We must hurry, and we must be more than careful. If we are caught, we will all be in collars.”

Richard was winded from his run from the Hagen Woods, so he slowed to a trot to catch his breath. He saw Sisters prowling the grounds of the palace, but they didn’t see him. Though he was shrouded in the mriswith cape, he couldn’t search the entire palace; it would take days. He had to find out where Kahlan, Zedd, and Gratch were being held so he could get back to Aydindril. Zedd would know what to do.

Zedd would probably furiously upbraid him for his stupidity, but Richard deserved it. His stomach was in a knot thinking about the trouble he had caused. He could not even credit his wits for his foolhardy actions not ending in his being killed. How many lives had he put in jeopardy by his reckless actions?

Kahlan was probably going to be more than furious with him. And why not?

Richard shuddered to think why the mriswith went to Aydindril. He felt a pang of dread for his friends there. Maybe the mriswith only wanted to establish a new home, like the Hagen Woods here, and would stay there and keep to themselves. An inner voice laughed at his wishful thinking. He had to get back there.

Stop thinking about the problem, he reprimanded himself. Think about the solution.

He would get his friends out of here first, and then he would worry about the rest.

It was puzzling that Kahlan, Zedd, and Gratch would be held at the palace, but he didn’t doubt what Merissa had told him; she had thought she had him, and so would have had no reason to lie. He couldn’t understand why the Sisters of the Dark would hide their catch in a place that could be a danger to them.

Richard halted. A small group of people was crossing the lawn in the moonlight. He couldn’t see who they were, and was about to go find out, but decided that his first thought was the correct one: go see Ann. The Prelate would be able to help him. Other than Prelate Annalina and Sister Verna he didn’t know which of the Sisters he could trust. He waited until the people moved off down a covered corridor before he started out again.

When he had left the palace months ago, he knew there could still be Sisters of the Dark among the sorceresses here, and they must be the ones who had hidden Kahlan away, but he didn’t know who they were. He could look for Verna, but he didn’t know where she would be. He did know where to find the Prelate, though, so that was where he would start.

If he had to, he would tear the Palace of the Prophets down, stone by stone, to find Kahlan and his friends, but he was wary of violating the Wizard’s Third Rule again, and decided that this time he would start out, at least, with reason instead of passion.

Dear spirits, where did one end and the other begin?

At the outer gate to the Prelate’s compound, Kevin Andellmere was standing guard. Richard knew Kevin, and was reasonably sure that he could be trusted. “Reasonably sure” wasn’t good enough, so Richard kept the mriswith cape closed around himself and slipped past Kevin into the inner compound. In the distance, Richard could hear the raucous laughter of several men coming up a walkway, but they were a goodly distance away.

Richard knew the Prelate’s former administrators. One had been killed when the other, Sister Ulicia, had attacked the Prelate. After the attack, Sister Ulicia and five other Sisters of the Dark had fled aboard the ship, the
Lady Sefa
. The desks outside the Prelate’s office were empty, now.

No one was around out in the hall, or the outer office, and the door to the Prelate’s office was open, so Richard let the mriswith cape fall open as he relaxed his concentration. He wanted Ann to recognize him.

The moonlight coming through the double doors in the rear of the dark room silhouetted her enough for Richard to tell that she was sitting in her chair at the table. He could see in the faint light that her head was tilted down. She must be napping.

“
Prelate,” he said gently, so as not to startle her awake. She stirred, her head coming up a bit, and her hand lifting. “I need to talk with you, Prelate. It’s Richard. Richard Rahl.”

A glow lit in her upturned palm.

Sister Ulicia smiled up at him. “Come to talk, have you? How very interesting. Well, a talk would be nice.”

As her wicked grin widened, Richard took a step back, his hand going for the hilt of his sword.

He had no sword.

He heard the door slam shut behind him.

He spun and saw four of his teachers: Sisters Tovi, Cecilia, Armina, and Merissa. He saw as they closed the distance that each wore a ring in her lower lip. Only Nicci was missing. They all grinned like hungry children staring at a candy reward at the end of a three-day fast.

Richard felt his need ignite within.

“
Before you do anything foolish, Richard, you had better listen first, or you will die where you stand.”

He paused and looked to Merissa. “How did you beat me back here?”

She arched an eyebrow over a dark, malevolent eye. “I returned on my horse.”

Richard turned back to Ulicia. “This was all planned, wasn’t it? You did this to trap me.”

“
Oh, yes, my boy, and you have done your part splendidly.”

He pointed back at Merissa while he spoke to Ulicia. “How did you know I wouldn’t be killed when she threw me off that tower?”

Ulicia’s smile vanished as she glared up at Merissa. Richard realized by seeing that look that Merissa had been acting outside of instructions.