Soul of the Fire (115 page)

At the side of the house, in the shade of a cherry tree, Dalton Campbell was waiting for them.

Richard instantly tensed, prepared for a battle. Dalton Campbell, though, didn’t look to have any fight in him.

“
Lord Rahl, I came to see off you and the Mother Confessor.”

Richard glanced over at the baffled faces of some of the others. They seemed as surprised as Richard.

“
And how did you know we were here?”

The man smiled. “It’s what I do, Lord Rahl. It’s my job to know things. At least, it was.”

Linscott was looking like he was about to go for the man’s throat. Edwin, too, looked ready for blood.

Dalton didn’t seem to care. Richard signaled with a tilt of his head, and Jiaan and Du Chaillu ushered everyone else back. With the rest of the blade masters nearby, none of them seemed too concerned about this one man.

“
May I say, Lord Rahl, that in another time, another place, I think we could have been friends.”

“
I don’t,” Richard said.

The man shrugged. “Maybe not.” He pulled a folded blanket from under his arm. “I brought this, in case you need another to keep your wife warm.”

Richard was confused by the man, and by what he wanted. Dalton placed the blanket off to the side in the carriage. Richard figured that Dalton could have caused a lot of trouble if he intended it, so that wasn’t what he was about.

“
I just wanted to wish you good luck. I hope the Mother Confessor will be well, soon. The Midlands needs her. She is a fine woman. I’m sorry I tried to have her killed.”

“
What did you say?”

He looked up into Richard’s eyes. “I’m the one who sent those men. If you get your magic back, Lord Rahl, please don’t try to heal her with it. A Sister of the Dark provided a spell to kill her with the dark side of the magic, if healing is tried on what was done to her. You must let her get better on her own.”

Richard thought he should be killing the man, but for some reason, he was just standing there, staring at him as he confessed.

“
If you wish to kill me, please feel free. I don’t really care.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
You have a wife who loves you. Cherish her.”

“
And your wife?”

Dalton shrugged. “Ah well, I’m afraid she isn’t going to make it.”

Richard frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“
There is a nasty illness going around among the prostitutes in Fairfield. Somehow, my wife, the Sovereign, his wife, and I have acquired it. We are already coming ill. Very unfortunate. It’s an unpleasant death, I’m told.

“
The poor Sovereign is weeping and inconsolable. Considering it was the one thing he feared above all else, one would think he would have been more careful in choosing his partners.

“
The Dominie Dirtch, too, I’ve heard, have crumbled to dust. All our work seems to be coming undone. I expect that Emperor Jagang, when he arrives, is going to be quite displeased.”

“
We can hope,” Richard said.

Dalton smiled. “Well, I’ve things to do, unless, of course, you wish to kill me.”

Richard smiled at the man.

“
A wise woman told me that the people are the willing accomplices of tyranny. They make those like you possible.

“
I’m going to do the worst possible thing I could do to you and your people—what my grandfather would have done to you.

“
I’m going to leave you all to suffer the consequences of your own actions.”
 

Ann was so cramped she feared she would be crippled for life, never to walk again. The box she was in was bouncing around in the wagon something awful as it rattled over cobblestones, adding to her misery. She felt as if someone had beaten her with a club.

If she wasn’t let out soon, she was sure she would go mad.

As if in answer to the prayer, the wagon finally slowed, and then stopped. Ann sagged with blessed relief. She was near tears from the pain of hitting the sides and bottom, being unable to use her hands and feet to brace herself.

She heard the hasp being worked, and then the top opened, letting cool night air in. Ann took a thankful lungful, savoring it like a sweet perfume.

The front of the box dropped onto the bed of the wagon. Sister Alessandra was standing there, looking in. Ann peered around, but didn’t see anyone else. They were in a narrow side street that looked deserted, for the most part. One old woman walked past, but didn’t even glance their way.

Ann frowned. “Alessandra, what’s going on?”

Sister Alessandra folded her hands in a prayerful pose. “Prelate, please, I want to return to the Light.”

Ann blinked. “Where are we?”

“
The city the emperor has been traveling to. It’s called Fairfield. I encouraged your driver to let me drive the wagon.”

“
Encouraged him? How?”

“
With a club.”

Ann’s eyebrows rose. “I see.”

“
And then, I’m so bad with directions, we became separated from the rest of the line, and well, I guess now we’re lost.”

“
How unfortunate for us.”

“
I guess that leaves looking for some of Jagang’s troops and surrendering, or else returning to the Light.”

“
Alessandra, are you serious?”

The woman looked ready to burst into tears. The banter was over. “Please, Prelate, help me?”

“
Alessandra, you don’t need me. The path to the Light is through your own heart.”

Sister Alessandra knelt down behind the wagon as Ann still sat in her box, her hands and feet in chains.

“
Please, dear Creator,” Alessandra began.

Ann listened as the woman poured her heart out. At the end, she kissed her ring finger. Ann held her breath, waiting for a bolt of lightning to strike Alessandra dead for betraying the Keeper of the underworld.

Nothing happened. Alessandra smiled up at Ann.

“
Prelate, I can feel it. I can—”

Her words were cut off with a choking sound. Her eyes bulged.

Ann scooted toward her. “Alessandra! Is it Jagang? Is it Jagang in you mind?”

Alessandra nodded as best she could.

“
Swear loyalty to Richard! Swear it in your heart! It’s the only thing to keep the dream walker from your mind!”

Falling to the ground, Sister Alessandra twitched in convulsions of pain, at the same time mumbling words Ann couldn’t understand.

At last, the woman went slack, panting in relief. She sat up and peered up into the wagon.

“
It worked! Prelate, it worked.” She put her hands to her head. “Jagang is gone from my mind. Oh, praise the Creator. Praise the Creator.”

“
How about getting these things off me, and doing your praying later?”

Sister Alessandra scurried to help. Before long, Ann had her shackles off, and she had been healed. For the first time in what seemed ages, she could again touch her own gift.

The two of them unhitched the horses and saddled them with tack from the wagon. Ann hadn’t felt so joyous in years. They both wanted to get far away from the Imperial Order army.

As they made their way through the city, heading north, they came across a square filling with people all carrying candles.

Ann bent over on her horse to ask one of the women what was going on.

“
It’s a candlelight vigil for peace,” the woman said.

Ann was dumbfounded. “A what?”

“
A candlelight vigil for peace. We are all gathering to show the soldiers coming into the city a better way, to show them the people are going to insist on peace.”

Ann scowled. “If I were you, I’d be heading for a hole, because these men don’t believe in peace.”

The woman smiled in a long-suffering manner. “When they see us all gathered for peace, they will see that we are a force too powerful to overcome with anger and hatred.”

Ann seized Sister Alessandra’s sleeve. “Let’s get out of here. This is going to be a killing field.”

“
But Prelate, these people are in danger. You know what the soldiers of the Order will do. The women … you know what they will do to the women. And any men who resist will be slaughtered.”

Ann nodded. “I expect so. But there is nothing we can do about it. They will have peace. The dead will have peace. The living will have peace, too—as slaves.”

They made it past the square just in time. When the soldiers arrived, it was worse even than Ann had envisioned. The screams followed them for a long way. The cries of the men and the children would end relatively quickly. The screams of the older girls and women had only just begun.

When at last they reached the countryside, Ann asked, “I told you we had to eliminate the Sisters of the Light who wouldn’t escape. Did you do as you knew I wished, before you escaped with me, Sister?”

Sister Alessandra stared ahead as she rode. “No, Prelate.”

“
Alessandra, you knew it had to be done.”

“
I want to come back to the Creator’s Light. I couldn’t destroy the life he created.”

“
And by not killing those few, many more could die. A Sister of the Dark would want that. How can I trust you are telling me the truth?”

“
Because I didn’t kill the Sisters. If I were still a Sister of the Dark I would have. I’m telling the truth.”

It would be wonderful if Alessandra had returned to the Light. That had never happened before. Alessandra could be an invaluable source of information.

“
Or it shows you are lying, and are still sworn to the Keeper.”

“
Prelate, I helped you escape. Why won’t you believe me?”

Ann looked over at the woman as they rode out toward the wilds, toward the unknown. “I can never fully believe or trust you, Alessandra, not after the lies you have told. That is the curse of lying, Sister. Once you place that crown of the liar upon your head, you can take it off again, but it leaves a stain for all time.”
 

Richard turned when he heard the horse approaching from behind. He checked Kahlan, who lay inside the carriage, as he walked beside it. She was asleep, or possibly unconscious. At least he could now recognize a little of her face.

Richard looked again when the horse was closer, and saw a rider in red. Cara trotted her horse up close and then dismounted. She took the reins and walked up beside him. She had a limp.

“
Lord Rahl, it took me a long time to catch you. Where are you going?”

“
Home.”

“
Home?”

“
That’s right, home.”

Cara looked up the road. “Where is home?”

“
Hartland. Maybe to the west—in the mountains. There are some nice places there, places I’ve always wanted to take Kahlan.”

She seemed to accept this and walked silently beside him for a time, leading her horse along behind.

“
Lord Rahl, what about everything else? D’Hara. The Midlands. All the people.”

“
What about them?”

“
Well, they will be waiting for you.”

“
They don’t need me. I quit.”

“
Lord Rahl, how can you say such a thing?”