Phantom: Chainfire Trilogy Part 2

Chapter 23

Kahlan watched as the three Sisters peered into the distance, watching for any movement. With the sun going down, the shadows were beginning to melt together into a gloomy haze. At the horizon to the south a sliver of fading daylight shone beneath menacing gray clouds that towered into a dark violet sky. The cloud tops were touched by a wash of red light that lent the evening an odd, dreamlike quality.

The sky in this place, so often filled with monumental, billowing clouds, seemed overpoweringly immense, leaving Kahlan feeling tiny and insignificant. The flat plains to the south stretched endlessly to the lonely horizon. Little vegetation grew in such a desolate place, and what did grow was found mostly in the low-lying places.

The clouds sweeping across the landscape dragged columns of rain but, as vast as the place was, the rains never seemed any more than a distant, isolated phenomenon. Kahlan suspected that if one were to stand in the same spot for a year waiting for one of those random showers to pass overhead, it would likely not happen. The barren landscape made life seem fragile and forlorn. Only the mountains to the north and east seemed able to comb rain from the parade of clouds. As a result, the trees didn’t venture down from their mountain refuge.

When the horses snorted and stamped their hooves, Kahlan pulled the reins tighter and absently rubbed one of the animals under its jaw to reassure it that all was well. The horse gently nudged her, wanting more. As she waited, Kahlan turned away from the haunting desolation and gave the horse a more attentive scratch.

In the distance she could see where the wall of mountains dwindled into a massive headland. That headland, like the tail of some sleeping beast, looked to be the southern tip of the mountains they had been following south. Kahlan wished she were back in those mountains. The mountains gave her a sense of sanctuary, probably because, unlike the open plains, she didn’t feel like anyone for miles around could see her. Out on the plain she felt naked and exposed. She realized that she didn’t really know why she should feel that way, since she could hardly be in a worse circumstance than being a forgotten slave to the Sisters.

Kahlan thought that she could see what looked like buildings up on the distant headland. If her eyes weren’t tricking her, the buildings looked like they were probably no more than ruins. If they really were buildings, then few of the structures appeared to have roofs. What at first made no sense finally began to when she considered if what might have been walls had actually crumbled long ago; that would explain the odd shapes. She didn’t see any sign of people. They, too, were probably long forgotten.

Even if they really were abandoned buildings, long deserted places made the Sisters no less wary than everything else did. Their wariness seemed to be born of a sense of complete and total dominion nearly within their grasp. In this place, though, Kahlan shared their edginess.

The three Sisters had been silent for most of the day, speaking only when necessary. The back of Kahlan’s shoulder still throbbed in pain where Sister Ulicia had unexpectedly struck her. It had not been punishment for any transgression—real or imagined—but rather had been delivered with a stern warning not to cause any trouble. The Sisters sometimes sought to express their superiority over others, even if it was by showing that they could hurt Kahlan just because they wanted to. She had to school her thoughts lest one of the Sisters pick up on what Kahlan thought of her treatment. She’d swallowed her dignity along with her thoughts and simply said, “Yes, Sister.”

Kahlan didn’t think that it was a good idea to go stumbling around in the dark, especially when they were beginning to come upon a landscape deeply rutted and eroded in places by runoff from the high ground. The horses could easily break a leg in such conditions. But, in their ambition to get to Caska, the Sisters hadn’t wanted to stop when evening had begun to engulf them. What the Sisters wanted, the Sisters got. Kahlan wasn’t looking forward to eventually setting up camp in the dark.

“I think there’s someone out there,” Sister Armina said in a quiet voice as she stared out into the darkness.

“I sense something, too,” Sister Cecilia murmured.

Sister Armina glanced over, expectantly. “Maybe it’s Tovi.”

“Could be nothing more than a wild mule.” Sister Ulicia didn’t appear to be in a mood to stand around speculating. “Come on.” She glanced back at Kahlan. “Stay close.”

“Yes, Sister,” Kahlan said. She handed the Sisters the reins to their horses.

Sister Cecilia, older than the rest of them, grunted with the effort of swinging her tired muscles up into her saddle. “My memories of the rare maps down in the vaults at the Palace of the Prophets tell me that we should be getting close to the place.”

“I recall seeing that ancient map,” Sister Ulicia said, once seated atop her horse. “It called this place the Deep Nothing. That would mean that it has to be Caska up on that distant headland.”

Sister Armina heaved an impatient sigh as she urged her horse on after the others. “Then we will at last find Tovi here.”

“And when we finally join up with her,” Sister Cecilia said, “she is going to have some explaining to do.”

Sister Armina gestured off toward the distant headland. “You know Tovi—always ignoring what she’s supposed to do because she thinks she knows best. She’s the most obstinate woman I’ve ever met.”

As far as Kahlan was concerned, Armina had little room to talk.

“We’ll see how obstinate she is when I have my fingers around her throat,” Sister Cecilia said.

Sister Armina urged her horse up beside Sister Ulicia. “You don’t think she could be up to no good, do you, Ulicia?”

“Tovi?” Sister Ulicia glanced back over her shoulder. “No, not really. She may be exasperating at times, but she has the same goal as do the rest of us. Besides, she knows as well as we do that we need all three of the boxes. She knows what’s involved and what’s at stake.

“We will soon have the three boxes all back together again—that’s all that really matters—and we will already be in Caska, so I suppose it wouldn’t really have done us any good to catch up with Tovi before now. We still would have had to come here anyway.”

“But why would she have taken off the way she did?” Sister Cecilia pressed.

Sister Ulicia shrugged. Unlike the other two, she seemed to be somewhat at ease, now that Caska was in sight. “It could be nothing more than that she discovered Imperial Order troops nearby and she simply wanted to avoid any possibility of trouble so she left the area. She probably was using her head, that’s all. She knew we had to come here. She probably saw a chance to slip away and took it. We’re better served by such caution. She was, in the end, going to where we planned on going all along, so I don’t really see what mischief she could be up to.”

“I suppose.” Sister Cecilia seemed somewhat disappointed not to have a villain upon whom to fixate her anger.

They rode in silence for nearly an hour more before it became apparent to the Sisters that riding over such ground in the dark might not only risk breaking a horse’s leg, but one of their necks as well. As far as Kahlan could tell, they weren’t much closer to the headland than they had been for most of the day. Out on the plain, distances were far greater than they appeared to be. What at first seemed to be a place only a couple of miles distant could turn out to take days to reach. The Sisters, despite their eagerness to get to Caska and Tovi, were tired and ready to stop for the night.

Sister Ulicia dismounted, handing the reins to Kahlan. “Get camp set up. We’re all hungry.”

Kahlan dipped her head. “Yes, Sister.”

She immediately hobbled all the horses so they couldn’t wander off, then made her way around to the side of the pack animals to start getting out their gear. She was dead tired but knew that it would probably be hours before she would have a chance to get any sleep. The camp had to be set up, food had to be prepared, and then the horses had to be fed, watered, and groomed for the night.

Sister Ulicia took hold of Sister Armina’s arm and pulled her close. “While we’re making camp, I want you to go out there and check the area. I want to know if it’s just a mule.”

Sister Armina nodded and immediately set out on foot into the darkness.

Sister Cecilia watched Sister Armina dissolve into the night. “Do you really think it’s a mule?”

Sister Ulicia cast her a dark look. “If it is a mule, it’s staying the same distance away as we travel. If it’s someone watching us, then Armina will find them.”

Kahlan pulled out the bedrolls when the Sisters asked for something softer to sit on other than the barren ground. She then pulled out one of the pots so she could get some dinner started.

“No fire tonight,” Sister Ulicia said when she saw Kahlan with the pot.

Kahlan stared at her a moment. “What would you like for dinner, then, Sister?”

“There is bannock left over. We can have that and some dried meats. We have pine nuts as well.” She gazed out into the night. “I don’t want a fire out here in the open, where anyone from horizon to horizon could see us. Just get out one of the smaller lanterns.”

Kahlan could not imagine what the Sisters had to worry about. She handed Sister Armina the lantern. The Sister lit it with a flick of a finger, then set it on the ground before her and Sister Ulicia. It wasn’t much light to see by as Kahlan finished unpacking, but at least it was better than nothing.

There had been times in the past when patrols of soldiers happened on them. The Sisters had never been especially spooked by such unexpected encounters with hostile forces. The Sisters had dispatched the soldiers without any problem—or mercy.

When they had run into patrols the Sisters were careful not to allow any witnesses to get away, apparently so that there wouldn’t be any chance of reports getting back to the army. Kahlan supposed that it was possible that such reports could result in great numbers of angry men coming after them. The Sisters didn’t appear especially concerned about that possibility; it seemed more likely that they simply had business and they didn’t want to be slowed for anything.

Getting to Tovi and the last box was of paramount importance to them and they had driven hard to get this far this quickly. Kahlan was somewhat surprised that they had not caught Tovi before now, especially since nothing seemed anywhere near as important to the Sisters as their precious boxes.

Except that they were Lord Rahl’s boxes. The Sisters had stolen them from Richard Rahl’s palace.

On one occasion, in their rush, they had come across a large detachment of the big Imperial Order brutes. The Sisters had been impatient to get past the soldiers, to get on with their business with the boxes, but the men appeared in no hurry to move on out of the way. The Sisters waited until the middle of the night and then walked through the encampment of sleeping men. Any time a man saw them, one of the Sisters cast out a silent spell that dispatched the man without any ado. The Sisters had shown no compunction about killing any man who happened to be in their way. They moved through the camp quietly, fearlessly, and deliberately. Kahlan saw a lot of men die that night. To the Sisters, it had been no more eventful than stepping on ants pestering them at camp.

But that had been a long time ago and they had not seen any troops since. The Imperial Order army was now far distant behind them and for quite some time had no longer been a consideration. That didn’t mean, however, that there couldn’t be other hazards, and so the Sisters were frequently as nervous as cats. Without warning, however, they could easily turn as dangerous as vipers.

Long after Sister Armina returned without finding anyone about, and the three Sisters had eaten, Kahlan still worked to finish her chores before she was allowed to eat. She was currying the horses when she thought that she heard the soft sound of footsteps on the hardscrabble ground. The sound brought her out of her thoughts about the soldiers. Her hand with the curry brush paused.

She looked over her shoulder and was startled to see a slender girl with short, dark hair standing timidly just at the edge of the faint lanternlight.

With the moon only occasionally peeking out from between the passing clouds, the camp was mostly left to the light of the single lantern back by the Sisters, so it was hard to see, but Kahlan could see well enough to see the young woman’s pale eyes staring at her.

In those eyes was the clear look of cognition. The girl saw Kahlan.

“Please—” the girl said. Kahlan crossed her lips with a finger, lest the Sisters hear the girl. Just like the man back at the inn, this girl saw and remembered Kahlan. Kahlan was astonished, and at the same time fearful that the same thing would happen to the girl as had happened to the man.

“Please,” the girl repeated in a low whisper, “may I have something to eat? I’m so hungry.”

Kahlan glanced at the Sisters. They were busy talking among themselves. Kahlan reached into her saddlebag in the pile near her feet and pulled out a strip of dried venison. She again crossed her lips with one finger and handed the girl the meat. The girl nodded her understanding and didn’t make a sound. Taking the meat eagerly in both hand, she immediately used her teeth to rip off a bite.

“Go, now,” Kahlan whispered, “before they see you. Hurry.”

The girl glanced up at Kahlan, then looked past her. Her eyes went wide. Her chewing halted.

“Well, well,” came a menacing voice over Kahlan’s shoulder, “if it isn’t our little mule come to steal from us.”

“Please, she was hungry,” Kahlan said, hoping to douse Sister Ulicia’s anger before it flared. “She asked for a bite to eat. She didn’t steal it. I gave her my food, not any of yours.”

Sister Ulicia was joined by the other two, so that it looked like three vultures all in a row. Sister Armina lifted the lantern to have a better look. All three looked like they intended to pick the girl’s bones clean.

“Probably waiting till we went to sleep,” Sister Ulicia said as she leaned closer, “so she could cut our throats.”

Copper-colored eyes shown in the lamplight as the frightened young woman gazed up at them. “I wasn’t lying in wait. I was hungry. I thought I might be able to get a little food, that’s all. I asked, I did not steal.”

The young woman reminded Kahlan a little of the girl back at the White Horse Inn, the girl Kahlan had promised to protect, the girl that Sister Ulicia had so brutally murdered. At night, before she fell asleep, the memory of that girl’s terror still haunted Kahlan. Her failure to keep her promise of protection still burned in Kahlan’s soul. Even if the girl hadn’t been able to remember Kahlan’s words long enough to comprehend them, Kahlan hated that she had made such a promise and then failed to keep it.

This girl was a little older, a little taller. Kahlan could see in her eyes, too, a kind of quiet comprehension of the true dimension of the threat before her. There was a kind of knowing caution in her copper eyes. But she was still a girl. Womanhood was still a mystery that lay just over her life’s horizon.

Sister Armina suddenly smacked the girl. The blow spun her around, knocking her to the ground. The Sister pounced on her. The girl covered her head with her arms as she tried her best to get out an apology for asking for food. Sister Armina pawed at the girl’s clothes between striking her.

When the Sister rose she held a knife that Kahlan didn’t recognize. She waggled it in the lanternlight, then tossed it to the ground at Sister Ulicia’s feet. “She was carrying this. Like you said, she probably intended to cut our throats after we’d gone to sleep.”

“I intended no harm!” the girl cried out as Sister Ulicia raised her oak rod.

Kahlan knew all too well what was coming and dove over the frightened girl, covering her, protecting her.

Sister Ulicia’s rod came crashing down across Kahlan’s back instead, right over the spot where she had been hit earlier. The girl flinched at the crack of oak against bone. Kahlan cried out with the pain of the blow.

With all her effort she pushed the young woman farther away from the Sisters, trying to keep her protected from harm.

“Leave her be!” Kahlan yelled. “She’s just a child! She’s hungry, that’s all! She can’t hurt any of you!”

In the grip of panic, the girl’s spindly arms clung to Kahlan’s neck, as if it were the lone root hanging at the edge of a cliff. If Kahlan could have killed the Sisters right then, she would have, but instead she did no more than protectively shield the girl; she knew that if she tried to fight them, the Sisters would pull her away for retaliation and then she could be no protection at all. This was the most Kahlan could do for the girl.

Again, Sister Ulicia struck Kahlan across the back. Kahlan gritted her teeth against the pain. Again and again the woman landed blows with the rod.

“Let the brat go!” Sister Ulicia yelled as she beat Kahlan.

The girl panted in terror.

“It’s all right,” Kahlan managed between gasps for breath, “I’ll protect you. I promise.”

The young woman whispered back a “thank you” in Kahlan’s ear.

Besides her desperate desire to protect such an innocent child, Kahlan desperately didn’t want to lose this connection to the world. The girl knew that Kahlan existed. She could see her, hear her, remember her. Kahlan needed that lifeline back to the world of people.

Sister Ulicia took a stride closer as she swung away at Kahlan, putting all her muscle into the beating. Kahlan knew she was in grievous trouble, but she was not going to willingly allow them to harm this girl as they had the last one. The girl had done nothing to deserve what Kahlan knew they would do to her.

“How dare you—”

“If you wish to kill someone,” Kahlan yelled up at Sister Ulicia, “then kill me, but leave her be! She’s no threat to you.”

Sister Ulicia seemed content to do just that, growling with the effort of clubbing Kahlan, striking over and over in a frenzy. Kahlan was getting dizzy with the pain but she would not move to allow the Sister to get at the girl.

The young woman hid under the protection of Kahlan’s larger frame, crying out with fright, not at what the Sisters might do to her, but in anguish for what they were doing to Kahlan. The rod made a sickening sound as it struck the back of Kahlan’s skull. It stunned her nearly senseless. Still, she would not let go of the young woman. Blood matted her hair and ran down her face.

And then the rod broke against Kahlan’s back. The larger piece spun out into the night. Sister Ulicia stood panting, in a blind rage, holding a useless stub. Kahlan expected to be killed, but in a way she no longer cared. There was no possibility of escape. There was no future for her. If she couldn’t fight for the life of an innocent young woman then life was of no value to her.

“Ulicia,” Armina whispered as she caught Ulicia’s wrist. “She sees Kahlan. Just like that man at the inn.”

Sister Ulicia stared at her companion, seemingly startled by the idea.

Sister Armina lifted an eyebrow. “We need to find out what’s going on.”

Sister Cecilia, a sinister glare twisting her features, not having heard what Sister Armina had said, stepped closer and stood over Kahlan. “How dare you defy a Sister? We’re going to skin this brat alive and make you watch the whole thing to teach you a lesson.”

“Sister?” The girl asked. “Are you all sisters?”

The night suddenly seemed impossibly quiet. Kahlan’s world spun sickeningly. Each breath felt like knives twisting between her ribs. Tears from the pain of the blows ran down her face. She couldn’t stop trembling, but still she would not abandon the girl.

Sister Ulicia tossed the end of the broken oak rod aside. “We are Sisters. What of it?” she asked, suspiciously.

“Tovi told me to watch for you, although you don’t look to me much like Tovi’s sisters.”

Everyone paused.

“Tovi?” Sister Ulicia cautiously asked.

The girl nodded. She peeked out past Kahlan’s shoulder. “She’s an older woman. She’s big, bigger than any of you, and she doesn’t really look like your sister, but she told me to go out and watch for her sisters. She said that the three of you had another woman with you.”

“And why would a girl like you agree to do as Tovi asked?”

The girl brushed her dark hair back from her face. She hesitated, then answered. “She is holding my grandfather captive. She said that if I didn’t do as she said, then she would kill him.”

Ulicia smiled the way Kahlan imagined a snake would smile, if a snake could smile. “Well, well. I guess you really do know Tovi. Where is she, then?”

Kahlan pushed herself up on an arm. The girl pointed toward the headland. “There. She is in a place with old books. She made me show her where the books were kept. She told me to guide you to her.”

Sister Ulicia shared a look with the other two. “Perhaps she’s already located the central site in Caska.”

Sister Armina cackled with relief as she jovially clapped Sister Cecilia on the back of the shoulder. Sister Cecilia returned the gesture in kind.

“How far is it?” Sister Ulicia asked, suddenly eager.

“It will take all of two days, maybe three, if we leave at first light in the morning.”

Sister Ulicia peered off into the darkness for a moment. “Two or three days . . .” She turned back. “What’s your name?”

“Jillian.”

Sister Ulicia kicked Kahlan in the side, the unexpected blow rolling her off the girl. “Well, Jillian, you can have Kahlan’s bedroll. She won’t be needing it. She’s going to stand for the night as punishment.”

“Please,” Jillian said as she laid a hand on Kahlan’s arm, “if not for her, you would now be without a guide to the place where Tovi is. Please don’t punish her. She did you a favor.”

Sister Ulicia considered a moment. “I’ll tell you what, Jillian. Since you spoke up for our disobedient slave, I’ll let you make sure that she doesn’t sit down during the night. If she does disobey us, I will give her a beating that will leave her with a painful limp for the rest of her life. But you can prevent that by making sure she stands the entire night. What do you think of that?”

Jillian swallowed, but didn’t answer.

Sister Ulicia snatched Kahlan by the hair and hauled her to her feet. “Make sure she stays on her feet, or what we do to her will be your fault for not making sure that she did as she was told. Understand?”

Jillian, her copper-colored eyes wide, nodded.

Sister Ulicia smiled a sly smile. “Good.” She turned to the other two. “Come on. Let’s get some sleep.”

After they had gone, Kahlan gently laid a hand on the top of the head of the girl sitting at her feet.

“Glad to meet you, Jillian,” Kahlan whispered so that the Sisters wouldn’t hear.

Jillian smiled up at her, and whispered. “Thank you for protecting me. Your promise was true.” She gently took Kahlan’s hand and held it to her cheek for a moment. “You are the bravest person I’ve seen since Richard.”

“Richard?”

“Richard Rahl. He was here before. He saved my grandfather, before, but now . . .”

Jillian’s voice trailed off as she looked away from Kahlan’s gaze. Kahlan gently stroked the girl’s head, hoping to comfort her heartache for her grandfather. She gestured, pointing with her chin.

“Go in that saddlebag, there, Jillian, and get yourself something to eat.” She was trembling from the pain, and wanted very much to lie down, but Kahlan knew that Sister Ulicia had not made an empty threat. “Then if you would, please . . . just sit with me for the night? I could use a friend tonight.”

Jillian smiled up at her. It warmed Kahlan’s heart to see such a sincere smile.

“In the morning you will have another friend to join us.” When Kahlan twitched a frown, Jillian pointed up at the sky. “I have a raven, named Lokey. In the day he will come and entertain us with some of his tricks.”

Kahlan smiled at the very idea of having a raven for a friend.

The girl squeezed Kahlan’s hand. “I won’t leave you tonight, Kahlan. I promise.”

As much agony as she was in, as bleak as her future seemed, Kahlan was joyous. Jillian was alive. Kahlan had just won her first battle, and that accomplishment was exhilarating.