The Third Kingdom (49 page)

“In what way does your experience benefit me with Richard Rahl?”

“Greatness demands the kind of dedication to purpose that I have shown, that has brought me to stand in the world of life again today. I let nothing distract me from my goal. You as well have shown great dedication to the purpose of rule.

“But for those who would be great, there is no room for distracting fixations. Such distractions drain away your energy of purpose. That is why I asked what is most important to you—dragging this man along with us, or ruling the world.”

Hannis Arc’s mood was getting as dark as the overcast. “There is no reason why I can’t do both.”

“You would be ruling one man, when you should be properly devoted to the effort of ruling all men.”

“You’re saying that Richard Rahl is a distraction that could keep me from succeeding?”

The spirit shrugged. “The world is full of distractions. It is the task of a great ruler to keep them to a minimum. Distractions drain time and energy from your primary goal.”

Hannis Arc glanced back at the milky half people, killers all, spread silently out across the landscape behind them. He turned back to the spirit watching him.

“Since the day my parents were killed at the orders of a Rahl, I have been planning my revenge, so that I—”

“And why do you suppose that the House of Rahl killed your parents, your father, the ruler of little, insignificant, far-off Fajin Province?”

Hannis Arc paused a moment, feeling the sparkle of mist against the tattoos on his face as he let his anger cool a bit. “To
eliminate the possibility that he might rise up and challenge for rule.”

The spirit smiled. “That is why the House of Rahl has ruled D’Hara for so long, and the House of Arc has ruled little Fajin Province. The House of Rahl was focused on ruling, not on humiliating your father by making him watch them rule. They simply eliminated the potential for a challenge to their power. If your aim is to rule, then you should rule.”

“I believe I can do both.”

“So did Richard Rahl’s father. He kept the distraction of Richard Rahl around for too long, and in the end it cost him his life. A number of men like him have failed because they were stopped by someone who would never have been a problem had they been killed in the first place. Richard Rahl is the leader of the D’Haran Empire because he is strong and determined and because Darken Rahl didn’t kill him when he should have.

“Richard Rahl is an incredibly dangerous man. He is, after all,
fuer grissa ost drauka
. He is not a man to be trifled with.

“If you think too much of yourself, if you think you can control him every moment, if you think that your power is strong enough to best him and keep him down, then you underestimate him. You underestimate him at your peril. You may have him captive at the moment, but every moment he is alive he will be thinking of how to kill you.

“He did not get to be Lord Rahl, the leader of the D’Haran Empire, the man who defeated Emperor Jagang and the might of the Old World, without being very good at what he does, and what he does well is to take down those who try to subjugate him. Right now, you are making yourself his target, his primary goal, and I can assure you, he will not be distracted from that goal by anything.

“If he is dead, then you don’t have to worry about any of that, and you can go on to rule the world.”

Hannis Arc’s mouth twisted. “I hate to admit it, but you may have a point. The man has proven how determined he is.”

The spirit king turned back to look Hannis Arc in the eye. “Rule is the revenge, Lord Arc. Kill your enemy now, while you have the chance, and then you can go on to rule. Ruling will be your vengeance.”

“As your return to this world is yours?”

Sulachan smiled a dark, vindictive smile. “I will now be the one who in the end has triumphed over all those who would think to take my rule and banish me to the infinite recesses of the underworld while at the same time banishing all those that I created”—he lifted an arm around at the desolate landscape—“to this forsaken place. In the end, they could not contain any of us with barriers or even death itself. Now, we will each have our way and our revenge.”

Being from tiny Fajin Province, Hannis Arc had no means to raise an army to fulfill his ambitions of conquest. He commanded small numbers, really, and he would need vast might to take his objective, the People’s Palace, and rule from the House of Rahl’s traditional seat of power. To take that objective, he was going to need an army.

And now, through Sulachan, he had what he needed. He not only had the Shun-tuk nation of half people, he had at his disposal an endless army of the dead.

Hands clasped behind his back, he finally looked over at the wise spirit king. A spirit Hannis Arc controlled.

The tattoos covering him had been tedious, time-consuming, and painful. But they had proven to be worth it. Those symbols in the language of Creation not only helped Hannis Arc pull the spirit of Sulachan back from the underworld, they protected him from the spirit king, should he not honor his commitments. They were, in a way, Hannis Arc’s armor when dealing with things dead.

“Now that the barrier is down there is no reason to remain here. I don’t want to waste any time. We need to be on our way.”

The spirit king bowed his head. “By your command, Lord Arc.” He glanced back at the vast army of half people. “We all stand ready and march on your order.”

“First I kill Richard Rahl, and then we march.”

A cunning smile overcame Sulachan’s spirit face. “We should allow some of the Shun-tuk to feast on the captives. Let your enemy, Richard Rahl, be among those eaten. Let him suffer the same terrifying death as the others.”

Hannis Arc shook his head emphatically. “No. No, you’re right that while I have the upper hand I should kill him. I’ve watched him over the years of war and you’re right about how dangerous he is. I must not take any chances.

“But now that the decision has been made, I want to do it myself, with my own hands. I want to watch death take him. I want to see the man die before my eyes so that the threat he represents is ended once and for all. I want him to look up into my eyes and know that it is I, Hannis Arc, banishing him to the world of the dead.

“Before he dies, I want him to know that I am turning the Shun-tuk loose on all his friends to devour the living flesh off their bones.

“I will see Richard Rahl die at my feet.”

The spirit lifted his chin as he drew a breath while gazing out at the desolate countryside. “My first day back in the world of life and already I am well pleased.”

Hannis Arc smiled, already envisioning the terror that Richard Rahl was about to suffer as he met his sad, lonely, violent end. He motioned to Vika.

She took a single stride forward. “Yes, Lord Arc?”

He couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he looked into her blue eyes. “Bring Richard Rahl to me. His time to die has come at last.”

She tipped her head. “Of course, Lord Arc. I will bring him to you at once.”

“Good. And there is no need to be gentle. In fact, make sure he is suffering in agony first, then bring him to me. Make sure, though, that he is still alive so I can kill him.

“I will see to it, Lord Arc,” she said in that chilling tone she had when unleashed to practice her skills.

He gestured toward the distance. “We’re starting out at once. Have the Shun-tuk bring all our supplies, first, then bring Richard Rahl to me.”

“Of course, Lord Arc. I will catch up with you.”

He glanced over at the king. “After I cut his throat with the same knife I used to bleed him over you, we’ll drag him behind as we march, and leave a trail of his blood for the Shun-tuk to lick up.”

Vika looked from the spirit king’s smile to Hannis Arc and then hurried away.

“What a fitting and bloody end this is going to be for the House of Rahl,” Hannis Arc whispered to himself as he started south. Once through the gates out of the third kingdom, he could turn toward the heart of the D’Haran Empire.

The glowing spirit of the dead Emperor Sulachan looked thoughtfully out over the landscape they were passing through. “As long as we are on the subject of rule, do you know, Lord Arc, that I commanded great respect and utter loyalty? That I was never challenged from within?”

“Challenged from within?” Hannis Arc was beginning to see that Sulachan had come back into the world of life with a lot on his mind. “What are you getting at.”

“I mean, no one within my inner circle of command—generals, commanders, advisors—ever rose up to challenge me, ever plotted to take my place.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I eliminated all of those who lusted to take my place, those who thought themselves more clever than I. Sometimes, I eliminated them because I knew they were going to have such thoughts even before they themselves knew they would eventually have such thoughts.”

With a thumb, Hannis Arc rubbed a tattooed symbol laid out along the side of his first finger. It was a symbol warning of hidden threats.

“If I might add something …?” the spirit said, glancing over at Hannis Arc in his silent contemplation.

“Please, state your mind.” Hannis Arc gestured between himself and Sulachan. “We are of one purpose in this, after all. We both work toward the same ends. As you have said, you acquired a lot of experience when you ruled such a vast empire. If you have something useful to say, then I would know it.”

The spirit looked pleased. “You have one who serves you with prophecy.”

Hannis Arc considered for a moment. A number of people served him with prophecy. He finally frowned.

“Do you mean Ludwig Dreier? My abbot?”

The spirit glanced back at the vast force of devoted Shun-tuk blanketing the rugged landscape as they followed behind, flooding around the rugged spires. “That is the one. Have you considered what trouble he might be?”

“Trouble?” Hannis Arc flicked a hand dismissively. “Ludwig Dreier is a petty abbot. A nobody. He doesn’t even work at the citadel, with me. He runs a dusty old abbey off in the mountains. He performs a variety of services for me.”

“In what variety of ways does this petty man serve you?”

“Well, I sometimes send him in my place on matters of state. I recently sent him to bring word to the leaders of other lands in the D’Haran Empire of the value of prophecy. As it happened, Lord Rahl had invited all the rulers of all the lands to the People’s Palace, for a wedding. I had business with a Hedge Maid”—he glanced over at Sulachan—“and with you, of course.

“So I sent Ludwig Dreier to the People’s Palace in my place. He was to make overtures to other lands on the value of prophecy and begin the process of winning the loyalty of leaders to our cause, rather than the D’Haran Empire.

“But his main work is to bring me prophecy. That is his job, the work of the abbey he runs.”

Hannis Arc watched the king of the dead walk in silence for a moment. He finally spoke what was on his mind.

“And has he ever told you how he collects that prophecy for you?”

Hannis Arc cast about in his memory, trying to think if Dreier had ever told him anything specific.

“It’s all pretty routine work. He deals with country people, the cunning folk out in the less-populated areas of Fajin Province and the Dark Lands, looking for anyone with any modicum of talent at foretelling from whom he might be able to coax prophecy. Some such people are born with minor ability to see into prophetic visions. Ludwig Dreier tests these people for what prophecy they might be capable of giving. If there is such prophecy among the country folk and he discovers it, then it should properly come to me.

“Lord Rahl has always been secretive about prophecy, and will not share what he knows of it. People have a right to prophecy. Prophecy is not the property of the few. It belongs to all of us.

“Unlike Lord Rahl, I understand and use prophecy.” He gestured at the corpse walking beside him. “After all, that is part of how you are able to be here in this world again. Had it not been for prophecy I might not have unlocked the paths necessary to bring you back from the underworld.

“Sometimes those simple country people require an incentive to get them to concentrate their minds to such a complex task as giving forth prophecy. He pressures them in various ways to focus their thoughts on what we seek so that they will be able to give prophecy, if they in fact are truly gifted in the art.”

“So he tortures them to get them to focus.”

Hannis Arc shrugged. “Well, yes, on occasion, when necessary, I suppose. I leave it to him to decide what is necessary. I don’t need to waste my time with such petty matters. I leave it to him.

“He is very effective at his work. He has brought me some remarkable prophecy. Not the prophecy I found myself, from
my own more in-depth studies that I used for all this”—he swept a hand back toward the Shun-tuk behind them—“for understanding how this fits into everything, and for calling you back. But he has proven useful over the years with prophecy that has turned out to be not only true, but quite timely and useful.

“I have books in which we record the prophecy he collects. He sends it on to the citadel, I look it all over, and then we record it.”

The spirit king gazed up at a wisp of gray overcast trailing down. “Do you know that he tampers with the world of the dead in order to obtain that prophecy?”

Hannis Arc missed a step. “No.… In what way? And how do you know?”

“Well, since I exist in that underworld, I know what happens there. You would have been unaware of such things taking place, of course, but part of my value in this alliance is to know of events in that world. You have seen things of importance here—evidence and indications—while I have seen such things of importance there, in that world.”

“Yes, that has proven to be mutually beneficial, and it will be even more so in the future. But what of Ludwig Dreier? What news could you have from the underworld about him?”

“He meddles in things you don’t know about. He meddles in prophecy in ways that you don’t know about or suspect. I know this because he uses his talents to send tentacles in my world to draw out that prophecy.”