Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

Chapter 51

Sitting in the darkness, leaning against the stone wall, nodding off from time to time, Rachel heard a sound outside the cell door that brought her head up. She sat up straighter, listening. She thought it sounded like distant footsteps.

She sank back against the cold stone of the wall. It was probably Six, come to take her back to the cave to start making her draw pictures in order to hurt people. In the stone room barren of even furniture there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Rachel didn’t know what she was going to do when Six told her to draw awful things to harm people. She didn’t want to do it, didn’t want to make pictures that she knew would hurt innocent people, but she knew that a witch woman would have ways to make her do those things. Rachel was afraid of Six, afraid of the woman hurting her.

There was no more awful feeling in the whole world than being all alone with someone who wanted to hurt you and knowing that you could do nothing to stop them.

She was starting to get tears just thinking about what might be coming, imagining what Six would do to her. She wiped away the tears, trying to think of something, anything, that could help her.

It had been a while since she’d seen the witch woman. It might not even be Six—it might be some of the guards bringing her a meal. A couple of the guards were men from before, from when Queen Milena had been alive. Rachel didn’t know their names, but she remembered seeing them in the past.

There were other men, though, that she didn’t recognize. They were soldiers from the Imperial Order. The old guards were never mean to her on purpose, but the new soldiers were different. They were wild-looking men. When they looked at her, Rachel just knew that they were thinking of doing unimaginably vile things to her. They were not the kind of men who didn’t seem at all worried about anyone stopping them—except maybe Six. They always stayed out of the witch woman’s way. She ignored them, expecting them to get out of her way.

Those men, though, watched Rachel in a way that scared her down to the marrow in her bones. Rachel worried about them catching her alone like this, without Six to keep them away. But the thought of Six coming to hurt her wasn’t much better.

Rachel had always hated it when she had lived at the castle before, when Queen Milena had been alive. She had lived in fear most of the time. She was hungry most of the time.

But this was different. This was worse—and she had never thought it could be worse.

She listened carefully to the footsteps outside as they came closer. She realized that it wasn’t the sound of a man’s boots she heard, but a lighter step. It was a woman’s footsteps.

That meant that it would be Six. That meant that it was the day she had been dreading. Six had promised that when she returned she would start having Rachel draw for her.

The lock clanged as the key turned. Rachel pushed back against the wall, wanting to run but knowing she couldn’t. The heavy iron door squeaked as it opened. Light from a lantern flooded into Rachel’s stone prison.

A form glided in, carrying the lantern. Rachel blinked when she saw the smile.

It was her mother.

Rachel jumped up in a rush. With tears suddenly flooding down her cheeks, she ran to the woman and threw her arms around her waist. She felt comforting hands come around her in a warm hug. Rachel wept with the joy of that unexpected hug.

“There, there. It’s all right, now, Rachel.”

And Rachel knew that it was. With her mother there everything was suddenly all right. The scary men, the witch woman, none of it mattered anymore. It was all right, now.

“Thank you for coming,” she said through her tears. “I’ve been so scared.”

Her mother squatted down, hugging her close. “I see that you used what I gave you the last time.”

Rachel nodded against her mother’s shoulder. “It saved me. It saved my life. Thank you.”

A comforting hand patted her back as her mother laughed softly at Rachel’s unrestrained happiness.

Rachel pushed away. “We must get away. Before that awful witch woman comes back, we have to get away. And there are soldiers—mean soldiers. You mustn’t let them see you. They might do terrible things to you.”

Wearing a radiant smile, her mother gazed at her. “We’re safe for right now.”

“But we have to get away from here.”

Still smiling, her mother nodded. “Yes, we must. But I need you to do something for me.”

Rachel swallowed back her tears. “Anything. You saved my life. The chalk you gave me saved me from the ghostie gobblies. They would have torn me apart. What you gave me saved my life.”

Her mother cupped her cheek. “You saved your own life, Rachel. You used your head and you saved your own life. I just gave you a little help when I knew you would need it.”

“But it was the help I needed.”

“I’m so very glad, Rachel. Now, I need your help.”

Rachel shrugged. “What could I do to help you? I’m not big enough to do much.”

Her mother smiled in a way that gave Rachel pause. “You are just the right size.”

Rachel couldn’t imagine what she could be the right size for. “What is it, then?”

Her mother picked up the lantern and stood. She reached out for Rachel’s hand. “Come. I will show you. I need you to carry a very important message to save someone else.”

As they moved out into the stone hallway, the lantern showed that the stone hallway was empty. The guards were nowhere to be seen.

Rachel liked the idea of helping someone else. She knew what it was like to be afraid and need help.

“You want me to carry a message?”

“That’s right. I know you’re brave, but I need you not to be frightened by what you see. There is nothing to fear, I promise.”

As they hurried through the halls, Rachel began to worry. She knew that her mother had helped her before. She wanted to return the favor.

Still, it sounded like it might be scary. When people said not to be afraid, that meant that there was something to be afraid of. Still, it couldn’t be more scary than the mean-looking men who stared at her, or as scary as a witch woman.

Chase had taught her that it was normal to be afraid, but that to survive you had to be the master of your fear in order to help yourself. Fear, he always said, couldn’t save you, but mastering it could.

Rachel looked up at her beautiful mother. “Who is the message for?”

“It’s to help a friend. Richard.”

“Richard Rahl? You know Richard?”

Her mother glanced down. “You know him, that’s what matters. You know that he is trying to help everyone.”

Rachel nodded. “I know.”

“Well, he is going to need some help. I need you to carry a message for me to see if we can get him the help he will need.”

“All right,” Rachel said. “I’d like to help him. I love Richard.”

Her mother nodded. “Good. He is a man worthy of your love.”

She paused before a heavy door to the side, then squeezed Rachel’s hand. “Don’t be afraid, now. All right?”

Rachel stared up at her mother, feeling flutters in her stomach. “All right.”

“There is nothing to fear. I promise. And I’ll be right here with you.”

Rachel nodded. Her mother pushed the door open out into the cold night air.

Rachel could see out through the doorway that the moon was up. Because Rachel had been in a dark cell, and there had only been the lamplight, she could see everything outside pretty well. It looked like a courtyard, with stone walls surrounding it. The courtyard appeared to be big enough not only for bushes, but for trees.

Together they stepped out into the chilly darkness.

Rachel froze stiff when she saw the glowing green eyes staring down at her.

Her breath caught in her throat, preventing the scream locked inside her from escaping.

Huge wings snapped open, spreading wide. With the moon behind those wings, Rachel could see veins pulsing in the skin stretched across the wings.

It was a gar.

Rachel just knew that in an instant the beast was going to tear both of them apart.

“Rachel, don’t be afraid,” her mother said in a gentle voice.

Rachel couldn’t move her legs. “What?”

“This is Gratch. Gratch is a friend of Richard’s.” She turned to the deadly beast and laid a hand on the great furry arm, giving it a soothing stroke. “Aren’t you, Gratch?”

The mouth split wide. Huge fangs glistened in the light of the lantern. The vapor of its breath hissed out between those fangs up into the cold air.

“Grrratch luuug Raaaach aaarg,” the creature growled.

Rachel blinked. It wasn’t a growl, exactly. It sounded like it had actually been words.

“Did it just say that it loved Richard?”

Gratch nodded earnestly. Rachel’s mother nodded.

“That’s right. Gratch loves Richard. The same as you.”

“Grrratch luuug Raaaach aaarg,” the beast repeated.

This time, Rachel could recognize better what Gratch had said.

“Gratch is here to help Richard. But we need you, too.”

Rachel finally took her eyes off the huge beast to look over at her mother.

“What can I do? I’m not big, like Gratch.”

“No, you aren’t. That’s why Gratch can carry you. And you, in turn, can carry a message.”