Naked Empire

Chapter 56

Richard pressed his back up against the clapboard wall. He had to pause a moment, waiting for the world to stop spinning. He was so cold he felt numb. As dark as it was, he was having difficulty seeing.

But it was more than the darkness.

He knew that his sight was beginning to fail him.

At night it was worse. He had always been able to see better at night than most other people. Now, he was no better able to see at night than Kahlan. That wasn’t a big difference, but he knew it was meaningful.

The third state of the poison had begun.

Fortunately, they were close to having the final dose.

“This is the alleyway, here,” Owen whispered.

Richard looked up and down the street. He didn’t see anything moving.

The city of Hawton was asleep. He wished he could be, too. He was so exhausted and dizzy he could hardly put one foot in front of the other. He had to take shallow breaths to keep from coughing. Coughing brought on the worst pain. At least he wasn’t coughing up blood.

Coughing now, though, could be fatal, so he swallowed, trying to stifle the urge. If they made any noise, it might alert the soldiers.

When Owen moved into the alleyway, Richard, Kahlan, Cara, Jennsen, Tom, Anson, and a handful of their men followed in single file.

There had been no lights burning in the windows facing the streets. As the small group moved through the alley close to the walls, Richard saw no windows. A few of the walls did have doors.

At a narrow space between buildings, Owen turned in, following the brick path hardly wider than Richard’s shoulders.

Richard seized Owen by the arm. “Is this the only way in?”

“No. See there? The walkway goes through to the street in front, and there is another door inside that comes up on the other side of the building.”

Satisfied that they had alternative escape routes, Richard gave Owen a nod. They took the dark stairwell down to a room at the bottom under the building. Tom struck flint to steel a number of times until he managed to light a candle.

Once the candle was lit, Richard gazed around at the small, empty, windowless room. “What is this place?”

“The basement of a palace,” Owen said.

Richard frowned at the man. “What are we doing here?”

Owen hesitated and glanced at Kahlan.

Kahlan saw the look. She pushed Richard down until he sat and leaned back against the wall. A footsore Betty squeezed between them and lay down beside Richard, pleased to have a rest. Jennsen squatted close, on the other side of Betty. Cara closed him in from the other side.

Kahlan knelt in front of him and then sat back on her heels. “Richard, I asked Owen to bring us here—to a place where we would be safe. We can’t all go into that building to get the antidote.”

“I suppose not. That’s a good idea. Owen and I will go; the rest of you can stay here where no one will spot you.”

He started to get up, but Kahlan pushed him back down. “Richard, you have to wait here. You can’t go. You’re dizzy. You need to save your strength.”

Richard gazed into her green eyes, eyes that always captivated him, always made everything else but her seem unimportant. He wished they could be alone somewhere peaceful, like the home he had built for her back in the mountains where he had taken her to recover after she had been hurt . . . when she had lost their unborn child after being beaten nearly to death by those brutes.

She was the most precious thing alive. She was everything. He wanted so much for her to be safe.

“I’m strong enough,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”

“If you start coughing in that place where the soldiers are, then you’ll be caught and never get out—much less recover the antidote. You and Owen would both be caught. There is no telling how many soldiers are in there. What will happen to us if you’re caught? What would happen if . . .”

Her voice trailed off. She hooked a stray strand of hair behind an ear.

“Look, Richard, Owen went in there before; he can go in there again.”

Richard saw desperation in her eyes. She was terrified of losing him.

He hated that he was making her afraid.

“That’s right, Lord Rahl,” Owen assured him. “I will get the antidote and bring it to you.”

“While we’re waiting, you can get some rest,” Kahlan said. “Some sleep would do you more good than anything else until they bring back the antidote.”

Richard couldn’t debate how tired he was. He still didn’t like the idea of not going himself.

“Tom could go with him,” Cara suggested.

Richard looked up into Cara’s blue eyes. He looked up into Kahlan’s eyes. He knew he had already lost this argument.

“How far is this place?” Richard asked Owen.

“A goodly distance. Here, we are just at the fringe of the city. I wanted to take us to a place where we would be less likely to encounter soldiers. The antidote is at most an hour distant. I thought it best if we were not too far into the city if we had to get back out, but we are close enough so that you will not have long to wait for the antidote.”

Richard nodded. “All right. We’ll wait here for you and Tom.”

Kahlan paced in the small, damp basement as the others sat against the wall, waiting in silence. She couldn’t stand the tension. It felt too much like a deathwatch.

They were so close that it made it seem impossibly far. They had waited so long that the small amount of time left seemed an eternity that would never end. Kahlan told herself to calm down. Shortly, Richard would have the antidote. He would be better, then. He would be cured of the poison, then.

But what if it didn’t work? What if he had already waited so long that he was beyond any cure? No, the man who had made the poison and the antidote had told Owen that this last dose would cure Richard of the poison for good.

Because of the beliefs of these people, they would be certain that the poison was reversible. They would never have used it if they believed it would risk a life.

But what if what they believed was wrong?

Kahlan rubbed her shoulders as she paced, and admonished herself to stop inventing problems to worry about. They had enough real problems without letting her imagination get carried away. They would get the antidote and then they would address the problem with Richard’s gift. After that, they had to turn their attention to larger issues of Jagang and his army.

When Kahlan glanced over and saw that Richard had fallen sound asleep, she decided to go outside and watch for Owen and Tom. Cara, leaning against the wall beside Richard, guarding him while he slept, nodded when Kahlan whispered to her, telling her where she was going. Jennsen, seeing that Kahlan was heading for the door, quietly followed her out. Betty had fallen asleep beside Richard, so Jennsen left her there.

The moonlit night had cooled. Kahlan thought she should be sleepy, but she was wide awake. She followed the brick path out between the buildings toward the alley.

“Owen will be back soon,” Jennsen said. “Try not to worry. It will be over, soon.”

Kahlan glanced over in the dark. “Even after he has the antidote, we still have his gift to worry about. Zedd is too far. We’re going to have to get to Nicci right away. She is the only one close enough that might know what to do to help him.”

“Do you think the trouble with his gift is getting worse?”

Kahlan was haunted by the pain she so often saw in his eyes. But there was more to it.

“When he used the sword the last two times I could see that even the sword’s magic had failed him. He’s in more trouble with his gift than he will admit.”

Jennsen chewed her lower lip as she watched Kahlan pace. “Tonight he will have the antidote,” she finally said in soft assurance. “Soon, we can be on our way to Nicci.”

Kahlan turned when she thought she heard a noise in the distance. It had sounded like the crunch of a footstep. Two dark figures appeared off at the end of the alleyway. By the way one of them towered over the other, Kahlan was pretty sure that it was Tom and Owen. She wanted to run to meet them, but she knew how deadly tricks could be, so she drew Jennsen back with her around the corner of the building, into the darkest part of the shadows.

This was no time to get careless.

When the two men reached the narrow walkway and started to turn in.

Kahlan stepped out in front of them, prepared to unleash her power if necessary.

“Mother Confessor—it’s me, Tom, and Owen,” Tom whispered.

Jennsen let out a breath. “Are we ever glad to see you back.”

Owen looked both ways down the alley. When he turned to check, Kahlan saw moonlight reflect off tears running down his face.

“Mother Confessor, we have trouble,” Tom said.

Owen spread his hands. “Mother Confessor, I, I . . .”

Kahlan grabbed his shirt in both fists. “What’s wrong? The antidote was there, wasn’t it? You have it, don’t you?”

“No.” Owen choked back his tears and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Instead of the bottle of antidote, I found this in its hiding place.”

Kahlan snatched it out of his hands. With trembling fingers, she unfolded the paper. She turned as she held it close so she could read it in the light of the moon.

Kahlan, her heart racing out of control, started east.

Tom grabbed her arm and held her back. “Mother Confessor, I know what it says.”

Kahlan’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking. “Then you know why I have no choice.”

Jennsen put herself in front of Kahlan to stop her from starting out once again. “What does the letter say?”

“Nicholas wants me in exchange for the antidote.”

Jennsen put her hands against Kahlan’s shoulders to stop her. “What?”

“That’s what the letter says. Nicholas wants me in exchange for the lives of everyone else in this empire and the antidote to save Richard’s life.”

“The lives of everyone else . . . but how could he carry out such a threat?”

“Nicholas is a wizard. There are any number of deadly things available to such a man. If nothing else, he could use wizard’s fire and incinerate the entire city.”

“But his magic won’t harm the people here—they’re pristinely ungifted, the same as me.”

“If he uses wizard’s fire to set a building ablaze, like we did to those soldiers sleeping back in Owen’s town, it won’t matter to the people inside how the fire started. Once the buildings catch fire, then it’s just regular fire—fire that will kill anyone. If not that, Nicholas has soldiers here. He could immediately start executing people. He could have thousands beheaded in hardly any time at all. I can’t even imagine what else he could do, but he put this letter where the antidote was hidden, so I know he’s not bluffing.”

Kahlan stepped around Jennsen and started out again. She couldn’t make herself stop trembling. She tried to slow her racing heart, but that didn’t work, either. Richard had to have the antidote. That was what mattered. She focused her attention ahead as she marched swiftly up the dark street.

Tom paced along beside her, opposite Jennsen. “Mother Confessor, wait. We have to think this out.”

“I already have.”

“We can take a force of men to the meeting place—take the antidote by force.”

Kahlan kept going. “From a wizard? I don’t think so. Besides, if Nicholas were to see such a force coming he would probably pour the antidote in the river. Then what? We have to do as he demands. We have to get our hands on the antidote, get it safely away from them.”

“What makes you think that after Nicholas has you he won’t then pour it in the river?” Tom asked.

“We’ll have to make the exchange in a way that best insures we get the antidote. We aren’t going to rely on his goodwill and honesty. Owen and Jennsen are pristinely ungifted. They won’t be harmed by his magic. They can help make sure we get the antidote in the exchange.”

Jennsen pulled her hair away from her face as she leaned close.

“Kahlan, you can’t do this. You can’t. Please, Richard will go crazy—we all will. Please, for his sake, don’t do this.”

“At least he will be alive to go crazy.”

Tears streamed down Jennsen’s face. “But this is suicide!”

Kahlan watched the buildings, the streets, making sure there were no troops to hem them in. “Let’s hope Nicholas thinks so, too.”

“Mother Confessor,” Owen pleaded, “you can’t do this. This is what Lord Rahl has shown us is wrong. You can’t bargain with a man like Nicholas. You can’t try to appease evil.”

“I have no intention of appeasing Nicholas.”

Jennsen wiped tears from her cheek. “What do you mean?”

Kahlan stiffened her resolve. “What is our best chance of getting rid of the Imperial Order in this city—and all of Bandakar? Eliminating Nicholas. How better to get close to him than to make him think he has won?”

Jennsen blinked in surprise. “You intend to touch him with your power. That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it? You think you will have a chance to touch him with your Confessor power.”

“If I get him in my sight, he’s dead.”

“Richard would never agree to this,” Jennsen said.

“I’m not asking him. This is my decision.”

Tom stepped in front of her, blocking the way. “Mother Confessor, I’m sworn to protect the Lord Rahl, and I understand risking your life to protect him—but this is different. You may be acting to try to save his life, but at what cost? We would lose too much. You can’t do this.”

Owen moved around in front of her, too. “I agree. Lord Rahl will be more than crazy if you exchange yourself for the antidote.”

Jennsen nodded her agreement. “He will kill us all. He will take off our heads for allowing you to do this.”

Kahlan smiled at their tense expressions. She put a hand to the side of Jennsen’s face.

“Remember back just after we’d met you, and I told you that there were times when there was no choice but to act?”

Jennsen nodded, her tears returning.

“This is one of those times. Richard is getting sicker by the day. He’s dying. If he doesn’t get the antidote, he has no chance and will soon be dead. That’s the truth of the way things are.

“How can we let this chance slip away from us? There are no more opportunities after this. Our chances to save him will forever be lost. It will be the end. I don’t want to live without him. I don’t want the rest of our people to live without him.

“If I do this, then Richard will live. If Richard lives, then there will still be a chance for me, too. I can touch Nicholas with my power, or Richard and the rest of you can think of something to do to save me.

“But if Richard dies, then our chances end.”

“But, Mother Confessor,” Jennsen sobbed, “if you do this, then we’ll lose you. . . .”

Kahlan looked to each face, her anger rising. “If any of you have a better idea, then put words to it. Otherwise, you are risking me losing the only chance left.”

No one had anything to say. Kahlan was the only one with a realistic plan of action. The rest of them had only wishes. Wishing would not save Richard.

Kahlan started out once again, hurrying her pace to get there in time.