Into Darkness

75

Richard looked back over his shoulder at Vika. “Are you all right?”

“Peachy,” she said above the crackling noise of the lightning flickering all around them.

Richard smiled. “Good.”

She cast a worried look around the dancing and glimmering dome of power, then gazed back at him. “As far as your crazy ideas go, this one might be the craziest.”

“Well, I have to tell you, I haven’t yet gotten to the crazy part.”

She carefully avoided touching any of the glowing lines as she used her hands on him to twist herself around until she was facing his back. She circled one arm around his waist to make sure she stayed close enough in case he moved. He was glad, at least, that she was taking the danger of the glowing lines seriously.

“What?” she yelled out. “This isn’t the crazy part?”

“No. I just wanted to make sure you are all right because I’m about the do the crazy part. I’m going to need your help to do some of it with me.”

She shook her head. “Sure, why not. I have nothing better to do.”

He gestured around at the complex network of luminous blue, green, orange, and white lines of the verification web. “I’m going to have to extinguish some of these glowing orange lines in order to open up a corridor of sorts that you and I can move through to get to the gateway device.”

“Should I go with you?”

“Yes. Once I clear away enough of the lines, then when I start to move toward the stone, I want you to move with me, like you are my shadow. Can you do that?”

“Of course. But that doesn’t sound like it’s the crazy part.”

“It’s not. When I’m ready and we start to move, keep your arms in close. Be careful not to let any part of you touch the lines, because they will cut a slab of flesh right off you.”

“I understand.”

“I’m going to extinguish some of the lines, but I can’t get rid of them all quite yet or the web will collapse, and I still need it, so it will be a narrow space and we will have to be careful.”

“I understand. But there is something that I think you should know, first.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

She pointed down. “We’re not touching the ground. We’re floating about a foot above it.”

“I know. It’s part of the process. When I extinguish some of the lines, we will settle down to the ground and be able to walk to the stone.”

Once he was sure that she wasn’t going to panic and do something that might get her killed—he realized as soon as he had the thought that Mord-Sith didn’t panic and they didn’t necessarily fear getting killed, as long as it was in service to protect him—he began reaching out and touching his first finger and thumb together at key intersections in the web. Since the lines were in part a creation of his own gift, he knew that as long as he was careful, they wouldn’t harm him the way they would harm Vika.

As he touched the first intersection of lines above and a little to the right, two of the lines crossing in front of him vanished. He continued to pinch off primary junctions of lines, in a way cauterizing the flow of power so that it wouldn’t bleed away, and the web would remain viable.

As he pinched off intersections at the proper nodes, it extinguished lines in midair between him and the stone at the edge of the ring. With each that vanished, he could reach farther in to touch other prime points where complex networks of glowing orange lines came together. As he worked, he and Vika gradually sank toward the ground.

Once their feet touched the ground, he spoke to Vika back over his shoulder. “I’m going to move closer to the stone. Stay close.”

“Don’t worry. Just think of me as your shadow.”

Richard worked as he moved deeper until he had an adequate corridor opened to the stone. It wasn’t roomy, but it provided enough space for them to get through. Once there, he started clearing the glowing lines from all around the stone to give himself the access he would need to all the symbols.

“All right, I’m ready for the next part. Don’t be alarmed.”

“Nothing you do alarms me anymore.”

He smiled as he pulled his silver-handled knife from the sheath at his belt. It had an ornate letter “R” on it for the House of Rahl. It was a reminder of home, Kahlan, and all he had left behind, as well as his responsibility to his own world.

As Vika watched over his shoulder, Richard gritted his teeth and drew the razor-sharp blade across his forearm, cutting deep enough to bleed sufficiently to provide the blood he would need. He ignored the stinging pain of the cut and wiped the knife in the blood, turning it over, collecting all of it he could on the blade.

He held the knife level so that the blood wouldn’t all run down and drip off. Leaning over, he touched a series of three emblems in the language of Creation with just enough Additive Magic to initiate a reset of the gateway. Each one he touched confirmed that touch of magic with a slight vibration and a tone.

Once done with that, he held the knife over the stone to let the blood drip from the tip of the blade into the slot on the top where Sang had shown him they put their claw.

“What are you doing?” Vika sounded apprehensive.

“I thought you said that nothing I do alarms you anymore.”

“I’m not alarmed. I’m Mord-Sith. I’m curious.”

Richard held the knife steady to make sure all the blood continued to drip into the slot. “I’m altering the protocols with my blood so that the gateway will only recognize a Rahl from now on.”

“That’s actually not crazy.”

“Just wait,” he whispered.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Richard swiftly stroked the edge of the blade up his arm again to collect more blood. Once he had, he quickly held it over the slot, letting more of his blood drip from the tip into the slot. He didn’t know how much would be needed to accomplish what he wanted to do, but he decided it would be best to be sure it was plenty rather than risk having too little.

As he dripped the blood in the second time, the ground began to rumble like distant thunder. A soft glow appeared in the air over the sand within the gold ring.

Richard looked back at Vika. “Now comes the crazy part.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You mean none of this was the crazy part?”

“No, not really.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t have time to explain. The reset is active. I need to complete the series.”

“What can I do to help?”

“I need to hold an arm around this stone. I will reach back with my other arm. I want you inside the gold ring as close as you can get to the center of that glowing light and still be able to stretch out an arm and hold my hand.”

Seeing his grim expression, she nodded. “All right. Anything else?”

“Just don’t let go of my hand no matter what happens.”

“I won’t,” she said earnestly before she started carefully working her way back through the corridor in glowing orange lines. She turned and stretched her arm out, waiting for his hand.

Richard put his right arm around the stone, with his wrist hooked up over the top on the other side so that he could hold the knife, still dripping his blood, over the slot in the slanted top of the stone.

With his left hand, he reached down and touched the reset sequence with his palm. He used enough of a flow of Subtractive Magic to close the verification web. As soon as he felt the final emblem vibrate under his palm, confirming that it accepted the instruction, all the glowing lines instantly turned to smoke. Those lines of smoke swirled a little in the air before they quickly began to vanish. In a moment they were gone.

But in their place the softly glowing air within the golden ring began to vibrate with an ever-increasing roar that hurt his ears.

Richard looked back at Vika. She was wincing against the pain of the thundering roar.

“You will need to bend over a little more to be able to reach me!” He had to yell to make sure she could hear him over the strange vibrating, rumbling noise.

She nodded as she did as he asked, bending at the waist and stretching her arm out toward him while keeping her feet in the center of the sand. She held the position, waiting for him to grab her hand.

With his left hand, Richard quickly pressed his palm to the final reset authentication emblem. It pulsed a bright red to confirm that it recognized him. As soon as it did, he immediately stretched his left arm back to Vika. She grimaced against the pain of the sound as she grabbed and then gripped his hand like her life depended on it.

It did.

He again read the critical emblem in the language of Creation that was facing him. Because it was so important, the same emblem was on all four sides of the stone so that it couldn’t be missed. Each emblem was the same. It translated roughly to “Keep your target in mind.”

He didn’t need to know what that meant to tell him. He understood it from using a bow and arrow. When he shot, he called the target. That was what the gateway meant him to know. As strange as it seemed, it felt to him as if the gateway, now that it had his blood, was reading what was in his mind and using what he already knew in order to guide him.

It was like they were now of one mind and one purpose.

Richard looked back at Vika. “Once more into darkness!” he cried out over the roar.

Hugging his right arm around the stone, target firmly in mind, he reached over the top with his right hand and slammed the silver knife down into the slot in the stone.