Into Darkness

46

Kahlan rode close beside Richard as they crossed the stone bridge. She felt as if a weight of dread had been lifted from her. She had been secretly terrified that Shota’s prediction that one of their children would be a monster would turn out to be true, but she hadn’t wanted to burden Richard with her fears. The world had seemed a dark and threatening place. She had felt doomed, without a way out.

Richard had just made the sun come out again. Her spirits had been cheered to the point that dread suddenly turned to expectant joy at the thought of the fast-approaching birth. In the past, Shota’s prophecies had always turned out to be true, but in ways that never brought about the kind of doom she had predicted. With this one, like the others, they could work to make sure that things turned out well.

He offered her a smile, reassuring her, but she could see in his gray eyes that he was worried about things other than one of their children being a monster. She knew that, like her, he was worried about the lives of all the people down in the city once the Golden Goddess found out where they were. They both knew that she would use the lives of those people to try to force them to give themselves up.

On the one hand, she felt dreadful that their coming to Aydindril could result in the death of so many people in the city she loved. But on the other hand, if they didn’t retreat to the safety of the Keep, then they and their children would end up being hunted and eventually slaughtered. If that happened, then in the long run, everyone in the world would be naked before the onslaught of the Glee and everyone in their world would be hunted to extinction.

That was always the dilemma with hostages, but the end result of giving in was why Kahlan never submitted to hostage negotiations. As cruel as it seemed on the surface, sacrificing hostages was for the greater good.

She hated that such a phrase was what Shota had used, but in this case, it was the cold reality. Giving in to such evil only resulted in more death in the end.

At least at the People’s Palace there had been a lot of soldiers of the First File to help protect people. Even so a great many of those people had died. Here, there was no large force like that. There was only Richard, and he couldn’t be everywhere at once.

The only solution she could see was that the threat from the Glee had to be ended by force, but she had absolutely no idea how they could accomplish such a thing. The Golden Goddess, after all, was off in another world. Even if they wanted to try to kill her, they had no way to get at her.

Kahlan smiled when Richard looked her way again, feeling better at least about how he had said they would raise their children. What he said made sense.

As they rode over the bridge, she looked down over the edge of the bridge’s stone wall at the side. The rock walls below the bridge dropped away seemingly forever. In one place on the far wall of the chasm, a thin stream of water, as usually happened for several days after rain, emerged from a crack in the rock. The water tumbling down turned to mist before it ever reached the bottom far below. There were often clouds floating by below the bridge, but there were none this day.

“It’s good to be home,” she said to Richard.

He nodded. “It’s been a long time, and a long journey.”

It seemed too simple a statement for all the effort of finally arriving after deciding to leave the People’s Palace and all they had gone through, from Michec to Shota to all the battles with the Glee.

Once across the bridge, they quickened their pace up the road. When they were almost to the opening in the outer Keep wall, and before they went in, Kahlan turned to have a look at the city she had so missed.

When she did, her breath suddenly caught.

Everyone else heard her gasp. They all wheeled their horses around to see what she was seeing.

To their astonishment, there on the bridge where they had been only moments before stood a lone Glee.

“Dear spirits,” Kahlan said under her breath.

Everyone else drew their horses close together, both to protect Kahlan and as they prepared for a fight. All their heads swiveled as they frantically scanned the countryside for others, looked for the rest of the Glee about to ambush them before they could get into the safety of the Keep. The Mord-Sith all had their Agiel in their fists. Rikka and Cassia threw a leg over their horses’ necks and leaped to the ground, drawing their knives in addition to the Agiel they had in their other hand.

Unlike Shale and the Mord-Sith, who looked ready for the expected battle, Richard merely stared at the single dark figure on the bridge. Kahlan was surprised that he didn’t look alarmed. She could see that his posture was relaxed in his saddle as he watched the Glee. Much to Kahlan’s surprise, he merely studied the creature, which was just standing there looking back at them.

“Something looks a little different than I remember about the Glee I’ve seen before,” Kahlan finally said when no one else spoke, “or maybe I just never before saw them standing still like that for so long.”

Shale frowned back over her shoulder. “What do you mean? Different how?”

“I’m not sure, but I don’t really remember them having that slight greenish iridescence across the tops of their heads.”

“That’s because the others you’ve seen before don’t have that sheen of color.” Richard sounded calm and not the least bit worried.

The way he said it made Kahlan think he had seen a Glee like this before.

She frowned over at him. “What are you talking about?”

Just then the Glee did the strangest thing.

It opened its arms out a little to the sides, and turned its claws palm-out, toward them. When it did it spread its arms a little. She saw webbing she had never noticed before between the individual claws of the Glee.

And then it bowed its head.

Kahlan, Shale, and the Mord-Sith stared in astonishment.

Richard let out a sigh. “Bags,” he said to himself, but loud enough that Kahlan heard it.

“What in the world could this mean?” she asked him.

Richard finally looked away from the creature and regarded her with an expression that bordered on regret.

“It means I want you all to get into the Keep.”

Kahlan’s frown tightened. “You know this creature, don’t you? I can’t imagine how, but you know it.”

Staring off at the Glee again, Richard nodded as the Glee stared back at him.

“Get inside,” he said. “All of you.”

Kahlan grabbed his shirtsleeve in her fist. “Richard, what are you going to do? The twins are due any moment. I need you here. Our children need a father. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I can see in your eyes that you are getting one of your crazy ideas.”

He finally looked back to her with an iron determination in his raptor gaze. “I need to end this.”

She shook her head, as if trying to clear what didn’t make sense. “End it? What in the world are you talking about?”

“I’m not sure.” He stared off again at the dark creature. “I want you all to get inside. I will be back with you as soon as I can. It may only be a few minutes … but I have a funny feeling it may be longer.”

“Longer? What are you talking about? How much longer?” Kahlan quickly glanced around at the others all staring at him before she leaned closer. “What are you going to do?”

Shale was looking apoplectic. The Mord-Sith all looked back and forth between Richard and the creature, unsure if they should go attack it, or stand their ground. A firm look from Richard told them to stay where they were.

Kahlan again grabbed his shirt. “Richard, answer me. What are you going to do?”

He had that look she knew so well. The ferocity of it softened when he turned to her, but it didn’t leave entirely.

“I don’t know yet, but I suspect that this is a sign that the city is about to be attacked. I have to stop it.”

He kissed the ends of his first two fingers, pressed them to her lips, and then pressed them to the twins.

“Richard—”

He gathered up his horse’s reins. “I have to see what I can do, or this ordeal will never end, and countless people will die. I am the Lord Rahl, the leader of the D’Haran Empire. It is up to me to protect our people. I intend to do just that. Now get inside. All of you. Shale, I am counting on you to take care of Kahlan when the babies come.”

“You mean you will be gone that long?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but if I am, I want you to take care of Kahlan when she gives birth.”

“Of course, Lord Rahl.”

His gaze slid from Shale to the Mord-Sith. “Do as I say. I want you all to get Kahlan into the Keep where she will be safe. Don’t delay for anything. Do it right now. The people in there will help you protect her.”

“Only if you take Vika with you,” Kahlan said.

“It’s not his decision to make,” Vika told her. “That decision has already been made. You had better do as he asks and get inside the Keep where you will be safe. I promise you, I won’t leave Lord Rahl’s side.”