Phantom: Chainfire Trilogy Part 2

Chapter 25

Richard’s words were received like a slap.

An angry officer shouted, “Then why should we fight?” He swept an arm around at his fellows. “We’ve been at this war for years. Many of our fellow soldiers are no longer here, with us, because they have sacrificed their lives to preserve our cause and loved ones. If there is no chance, if we are just going to lose in the end, then why have we bothered to fight? Why should we bother to continue in this struggle?”

Richard smiled bitterly. “That’s the whole point.”

“What point?” the man growled.

“If people see no chance for triumph, no chance to win, and see instead that they face only ruin and death, then they begin to lose their will to fight. If they see that they have no chance to spread their beliefs, that they face only death if they continue to try to do so, then they will begin to want to forget all about such a war.”

If anything, the man was only getting angrier, as were many of the other officers. “So you’re telling us to forget about the war? That we can’t win against the will of the Order? That since we can’t win there is nothing to fight for?”

Richard clasped his hands behind his back as he lifted his chin with resolve. He waited until he was sure that he had every ear.

“No. I’m telling you that I want to make the people of the Old World feel that way.”

The men frowned in confusion, muttering questions among themselves. They quickly quieted down as Richard went on.

“Jagang is bringing his army up into D’Hara. He wants to meet us in battle. Why? Because he believes he can defeat us. I believe he is right. I don’t believe this because you men lack anything in bravery, training, strength, or skill, but simply because I know how vast his resources are. I’ve spent time down in the Old World. I know how vast the place is. To an extent, because I have traveled through the Old World, I know how many people they have, how much livestock, crops, and other assets. I’ve seen these things on a scale I’ve never seen before. They have reserves you cannot even begin to imagine.

“Jagang has amassed an enormous force of savage men who are devoted to their beliefs. They intend to crush everyone and everything opposing them. They lust to be conquering heroes, to spread their faith. Jagang has been provided with everything his experience tells him he will need, and then he doubled it. Just to be certain, he then doubled it again.

“Jagang does not hold perverse moral notions of warfare fought by employing no more assets than an opponent possesses—of some kind of fabricated fairness imposed on the act of mortal combat. He has no interest in an equal contest—nor should he. He is interested only in mastering us. That is his task.

“To that end, they want us to defend from the position of our greatest vulnerability, fight from our weakest footing—on the battlefield, in a traditional final battle. That is what all of Jagang’s efforts have been dedicated to because it’s what everyone expects. They want to meet us this way because we don’t stand a chance against their numbers. There is simply no way that we have enough forces to prevail. They will then crush us.

“Afterwards, they will celebrate their great victory—as if the accomplishment was ever in doubt—by frying up all your testicles and then in a drunken orgy they will rape your wives and sisters and daughters!”

Richard leaned toward the men and jabbed a finger at his temple. “Think! Are you so mired on the concept of a traditional final battle that you have forgotten its purpose? Are you putting the ‘the way it’s always been done’ ahead of the reason for doing it? The sole reason for such a battle is to prevail over the enemy, to settle the matter once and for all. That concept of a final battle has evolved into thinking that it’s the way it must be done because that is the way it has always been done.

“Stop being pointlessly tied to that idea. Think. Stop being blinded by what you have done before. Stop throwing yourselves into your graves as if by rote. Think—think—about how to accomplish our objective.”

“You mean to say that you have a better idea than fighting them?” a younger officer asked. Like most of the men, he looked truly puzzled.

Richard took a breath in an effort to get a grip on his temper. He lowered his voice and looked among all the sober faces as he went on.

“Yes. Instead of doing the expected and throwing ourselves into a final battle, I simply want to destroy them. That is, after all, the root objective of a grand final battle. If such a battle will not accomplish that objective, then we must find another way.

“Unlike those who fight for the beliefs of the Order, none of us needs to brag about a glorious victory on the field of battle. There is no glory in such things. There is simply success or failure. Failure means a new dark age. Success means we live free. Civilization hangs in the balance. It’s as simple as that.

“There is no narrowly defined field of battle in such a struggle for life, such a struggle for our very survival against men driven by a desire to murder us because they think we have no right to exist. Such a struggle is not a fight over a plot of ground, a war over turf, but is based in the minds of men, based in the very ideas that motivate them.

“Our loved ones will not be better served by a victory on a battlefield; they will only be served if we prevail in this struggle of ideas.”

General Meiffert finally lifted a hand to speak. “Lord Rahl, if not by meeting them in combat, then how do you propose we accomplish such a task against a foe that you have just explained is so vast that it is unbeatable? After all, even if it is their beliefs that drive them, it is their swords that we must deal with.”

Men nodded, happy that their general had asked the question they all had in mind. It was also the question Richard had been waiting for. He had discouraged their hope of a victory in a traditional battle by throwing out their mindset. Now he had to show them how to win the war.

As the drumbeat of rain on the tarp overhead increased, Richard, hands clasped behind his back, appraised all the faces watching him. “You must be the thunder and lightning of freedom. You must be vengeance unleashed against a people with corrupt ideas that have not just allowed evil to dwell in their hearts, but authorized and advocated it.

“We must fight the war our way. We must fight it for what it really is—not armies on a field of battle acting as surrogates for ideas, but a war for the future of mankind.

“As such, it is a war in which the Old World is totally committed, in which everyone on their side has dedicated themselves to the struggle. They are passionate about their cause. They believe in what they are doing. They think they have right on their side, that they are acting morally, that they are fulfilling the Creator’s wishes, and so they are justified in murdering whoever they wish in order to define how mankind will live.

“They are all investing their property, their labor, their wealth, and their lives in the struggle. Their people—not just their army—want to subjugate us and make us bend to their beliefs. They want us to be slaves to their faith, just as they are. They encourage their army to attack innocent people here, in the New World, in order to force their beliefs on us. They want us, as followers of the same faith as they, to sacrifice our lives to that faith, to live the lives they wish us to live, to dictate what our children will believe . . . by force if necessary.

“All the people who believe in the ways of the Order, who contribute, who encourage, who support, who pray for their soldiers to crush us, are part of their war effort. Each of those people adds something to their cause. As such, they are just as much the enemy as the soldiers swinging the swords for them. They are the ones who feed their blades with a supply of young men and everything they need to come after us, from food to moral support and encouragement.”

Richard pointed south. “In fact, those people who make this war possible are perhaps even more of an enemy because each one is a silent enabler who wishes us harm from afar, who hates by choice, who believes that there is no consequence for them forcing their will on us.

“Loot and plunder goes back to reward their support. Slaves are sent back to labor for them. Blood and tears are extracted to enforce their demands for faith.

“These people have made the choice to believe, made the choice to think that they have a right to our lives, made the choice to do anything necessary to rule us. There must be consequences to the choices they have made, especially when their choices ruin the lives of others who have done them no harm.”

Richard opened his hands. “And how are we to accomplish this?”

He drew his hands into fists. “We must bring this war home to the people who support and encourage it. It must not simply be the lives of our friends, our families, our loved ones who are thrown into the bloody cauldron these people of the Old World stoke. It must now be their lives as well.

“They see this as a struggle for the future of mankind. I intend to see that it is. I want them to fully understand that if they set out to murder and subjugate us—for whatever reason—then there will be consequences.

“From this day forward, we will fight a real war, a total war, a war without mercy. We will not impose pointless rules on ourselves about what is ‘fair.’ Our only mandate is to win. That is the only way we, our loved ones, our freedom will survive. Our victory is all that is moral. I want any supporter of the Order to pay the price for their aggression. I want them to pay with their fortunes, their future, their very lives.

“The time has come to go after these people with nothing but cold black rage in our hearts.”

Richard lifted a fist. “Crush their bones to blood and dust!”

There was a moment of silence as everyone took a collective breath, and then a thunderous cheer erupted, as if they had all secretly known that they had no chance to succeed and that they were doomed to face only death and failure in the end, but now they had been shown that there was a way. There was, at last, a real chance to save their homes and loved ones, to save the future.

Richard let the revelry go on for a time, then held up a hand to make them listen as he went on.

“The army of the Order has the support of the people of their homeland. The soldiers of the Order each know that their families, friends, and neighbors support them. The men of the Order need to hear from those back in the Old World. What I want the men of the Order to hear are wails of agony. I want them to know that their homes are being gutted, their cities and towns leveled, their businesses and crops destroyed, and their loved ones left with nothing.

“The Order preaches that life in this world is nothing but misery. Make it so. Strip away the thin veneer of civilization they so despise.”

Richard looked to Verna and the women with her, Sisters of the Light, all. “They hate magic; make them terrified of it. They think those with magic must be destroyed; make them believe that they can’t be. They want a world without magic; make them wish only not to anger us ever again. They want to conquer; make them want only to surrender.”

As the lightning crackled through the gloomy afternoon air, and the wind-driven rain beat against the awning overhead, Richard turned his attention back to the men. When the latest crackle of thunder died out, he went on.

“To accomplish our purpose, we must have a coordinated plan aimed at every facet of the threat. To this end, some of our forces must be devoted to the important goal of hunting and killing their supply trains. Those trains are essential to the Order’s survival. They not only get the reinforcements they need, but those trains send a steady stream of supplies that they must have in order to survive. The Imperial Order forces plunder as they go, but it’s nowhere near enough to sustain them. Their overwhelming size is also a vulnerability. We must deny them those supplies they need to survive here in such numbers. We must cut that vital link. If the Imperial Order’s soldiers starve to death they are just as dead. Any Order soldier who dies of starvation is one less we have to worry about. That’s all that matters to us.

“Also, the recruits coming up from the south will be much more vulnerable since they will not yet have joined up with experienced men, or be in massive numbers. They are poorly trained and little more than young thugs going off to rape and pillage. Slaughter them before they go north and have the chance. It will be ever more difficult to enlist new recruits if they are being killed on their own soil before they can ever go off to kill helpless strangers. Even better if they are small units just assembling in their home towns. Bring the war to them. Kill them before they have a chance to bring it to us. If young men know that if they volunteer they will never get to be heroes, never get their hands on plunder and young captive women, and see that they will not make it far before they are set upon by men who don’t fight as they expected, don’t throw themselves into a futile final battle against impossible odds, their passion for joining the fight will turn icy cold. If it doesn’t, then they can die, too, before they ever have a chance to join the army to the north. Seeing the bodies of these young heroes-to-be rotting on their doorsteps will help us crush the spirit of the people of the Old World.”

Richard appraised the intent gazes before going on. “The idea of a final battle dies here, dies today. Today we dissolve into thin air. After today there will be no D’Haran Empire army that the Imperial Order can engage in a final battle and destroy. They want to do this, after all, in order to strip our people of our protection, leaving them naked and vulnerable. We are not going to allow that. Today we start fighting this war a new way—our way—a way rationally thought out, a way that will win.

“I want everyone in the Old World to fear you as if you were avenging spirits. Beginning today, you will become the phantom D’Haran legions.

“No one will know where you are. No one will know when you will strike. No one will know where you will strike next. But I want everyone in the Old World to know without any doubt whatsoever that you will come after them and you will strike as if the underworld itself were about to open up and annihilate them. I want them to fear the phantom D’Haran legions as if you are death itself.

“They wish to die so that they may enter the everlasting glory of the afterlife . . . deliver them their wish.”

One of the men toward the back cleared his throat, then spoke up. “Lord Rahl, innocent people down there are going to die. These aren’t soldiers we will be attacking. A lot of children are going to die in this kind of thing.”

“Yes, that is unfortunately true, but don’t let your mind be clouded or your determination turned aside by such a spurious and irrelevant charge. The Order is responsible for conducting a war of aggression against innocent people who have done them no harm—including women and children. We seek only to end the aggression as swiftly as possible.

“It’s true that innocent people—including children—will be hurt or killed. What is the alternative? Continuing to sacrifice good people out of fear of harming someone innocent? We are all innocent. Our children are all innocent. They are being harmed, now. The Order’s rule will eventually harm everyone, including all those children in the Old World. The Order will turn many of them into monsters. Many more people will die in the end if the Order wins.

“Moreover, the lives of the people in the Old World are not our responsibility, they are the Order’s responsibility. We did not start this war and attack them—they attacked us. Our only proper course of action is to end the war as swiftly as possible. This is the only way to do that. In the end, this is the most humane thing we can do because in the end this will mean the least loss of life.

“Whenever possible you should of course avoid harming innocent people, but that is not your overriding objective. Ending the war is your objective. To do that, we must destroy their ability to wage war. As soldiers, that is the responsibility.

“We are defending our right to exist. If we succeed we will, as a consequence, help countless others to live free as well. But it is not our aim to free their people. If they wish to be free then they can join with us in our efforts.

“As a matter of fact, I know people in the Old World who have already revolted against the Order and are with us in this struggle. A simple blacksmith named Victor and his forces in Altur’Rang, for example, have lit the flame of freedom in the Old World and already fight with us. Wherever you can find these people who hunger to be free you should encourage them and enlist their support. They will willingly see their towns and cities burn if those blazes destroy the vermin who eat away at their lives.

“In all you do, never forget that your aim is to stop the Order from killing us and to do that we must make them lose their will to fight. To do that, we must take the war to them.

“I grieve for innocent lives lost, but their loss is a direct result of the immoral actions of the Order. We have no responsibility to sacrifice our lives to prevent innocent people on their side being harmed. We cannot be responsible for their lives in such a struggle not of our making.

“We have every right to defend our right to exist. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. The threat must be eliminated. Anything else is just whistling on your way to your grave.”

The men all stood somber and still under the billowing awning protecting them from the downpour. None had any argument to offer. They had been fighting a losing battle for a long time. They had seen thousands die. They understood that there was now no other way.

Richard gestured to Captain Zimmer, a young, square-jawed, bull-necked man who stood with his arms folded across his massive chest. He was immersed in total concentration as he’d listened to Richard. The man had become the head of the special forces when Kahlan had promoted Captain Meiffert to commanding general of the D’Haran forces. Kahlan had also told Richard that Captain Zimmer and his men were very good at what they did, that they were experienced, businesslike under stress, tireless, fearless, and coolly efficient at killing. What made most soldiers blanch made them grin. Kahlan had also told him that they collected the ears of the enemy.

“Captain Zimmer, as part of our new, coordinated operation, I have a special job for you.”

The man beamed with an infectious smile as he dropped his arms and stood up straighter. “Yes, Lord Rahl?”

“Of primary importance is the elimination of anyone—anyone—who preaches the tenets of the Order. These people are the fount of hate, the source of the corrupt beliefs that poison life.

“The Fellowship of Order has set their goal on the conquest of all of mankind for the purpose of bringing all people under their strict teachings. They advocate the killing of all those who don’t bow to their beliefs. The ideas of these men are the spark that ignites murder. Were it not for those teachings, they would not be here killing people.

“The Order is a viper that exists because of their beliefs, their ideas, their teachings. That viper stretches here all the way from the heart of the Old World. From this moment on, your objective is to behead this snake. Kill every man who preaches their beliefs. If they give a speech, the next morning I want their body found in the middle of a very public place, and I want it to be clear to all that they did not die of natural causes. I want it known that professing the beliefs of the Order is asking for a swift death.

“How you kill them is irrelevant, but kill them we must. When they are dead they can no longer spread their poison and raise the passions of other men to kill us. That is your job: kill them. The less time you take killing one, the sooner you can kill others.

“Keep in mind, though, that the high priests of the Fellowship of Order are gifted. While you must be cautious and aware that these men are wizards, also keep in mind that even such wizards still have hearts that pump blood through their veins. An arrow will kill them as surely as any other man.

“I know, because not long ago I was nearly killed by an arrow fired in a surprise attack on my camp.” Richard gestured to the two woman behind him. “I was fortunate in that Cara and Nicci were there to save my life. The point is that, despite their power, these men are vulnerable. You can eliminate them.

“After all, how often have I heard you men say that you will be the steel against steel so that I can be the magic against magic? Implicit in that maxim is the fundamental truth that the gifted are mortal and vulnerable to the same perils as all men.

“I know that you and your men will find ways to eliminate these men. I want every man who preaches the hate of the Order’s beliefs to find that death is the consequence. There must be no doubt of the hard truth that they are not going to escape that fate just because they are gifted. You and your men are to deliver that truth to them.

“This is, after all, about truth and illusion, a battle over which of those concepts mankind will serve. They preach an illusion of beliefs in things that are not real, of faith and fantasy, of kingdoms in other worlds, of punishments and rewards after we no longer exist. They kill to force people to bow to that faith.

“The counter to that is the reality of our promise of the consequence of harming us. That promise must be kept. That promise must be true. If we fail in this struggle, then mankind will slip into a long, dark age.”

Richard looked out over the silent men and spoke quietly, but in a tone that every man heard. “I am counting on the experience and judgment of you men to accomplish what we must. If you see something you think is useful to them, destroy it. If anyone tries to get in your way, kill them. I want their crops, homes, towns, and cities burned to the ground. I want to see the Old World burning all the way from here. I don’t want one brick left standing atop another. I want the Old World to suffer such ruin that they no longer possess the ability to extend their murderous intent to others. I want their will to fight broken. I want their spirits crushed.

“I trust that you men will be able to come up with ways to accomplish all this. Don’t be limited by what I tell you. Think about what is a valuable resource to them and what would make it a good target for us. Think of how best to carry out your new orders.”

He watched the eyes of men who were being called upon to do what they had never expected would be their job. “There will be no final battle with the army of the Order. We will not face them in the way they wish. Instead, we will haunt them into their graves.”

The gathered officers all clapped fists to their hearts.

Richard turned again to Captain Zimmer. “You have my orders as to your specific objective. Be ruthless. There is to be no alternative allowed for these men. Their death is the only result that is acceptable. Make it swift, sure, and without mercy.”

Captain Zimmer stood tall. “Thank you, Lord Rahl, for allowing me and my men to rid the world of those who preach this poison.”

“There’s one other thing I’d like you and your men to do for me.”

“Yes, Lord Rahl?”

“Bring me their ears.”

Captain Zimmer smiled as he put a fist to his heart. “There will be no escape or mercy for them, Lord Rahl. I will bring you proof.”

As they put their minds to their new goal, the officers all began coming forward with suggestions for both targets and methods of destroying them. Their enthusiasm enlivened their faces, as if they had gotten so used to the idea that there was no choice but to be worn down by an implacable enemy, that their faces had taken on creases as they sagged with the burden. Now Richard could see a new vigor in them, an excitement that there was a solution, an end in sight.

Men offered ideas of salting fields, poisoning water supplies with rotting, infected carcasses and corpses, destroying dams, cutting down orchards, slaughtering livestock, and torching mills. Nicci discouraged some suggestions, explaining why they wouldn’t work or would involve too much effort, and offered alternatives in their place. She refined other ideas to make them more devastating.

To a degree, Richard was sickened by the things he heard and the knowledge that he was the architect of such mayhem, but then he thought about the vision Shota had given him of Kahlan, of how those very horrors and more were real for uncounted innocent people, and he was gratified that they were at last striking back in a way that had a chance to end such horrors. The Order, after all, had brought this on themselves.

“Time is of the essence,” Richard told the officers and gathered Sisters. “Every day that passes the Order captures more places, subjugates, tortures, rapes, and murders yet more people.”

“I agree,” General Meiffert said. “This can’t be a march south.”

“No, it can’t,” Richard said. “I want you to ride fast and strike hard. The Order has a huge army and everywhere they go in the New World falls to their swords. But, because of their size, they are ponderous. It takes them a long time to move across the land. Jagang uses his slow speed as a tactic; it makes each city that lies in his path suffer the agony of waiting, imagining what will become of them. It gives fear time to build until it is unendurable.

“We actually have an advantage in that if we use cavalry and keep the units small and nimble, we can strike like lightning in one place after another. They seek to roll in on cities, envelop, and occupy them. We must not be drawn into that kind of drain on manpower and effort. We must simply lay waste to everything we can and then immediately move on to the next target. We must make everyone in the Old World feel fear, feel that there is no safety from our vengeance.”

A bearded officer gestured out at the camp. “There’s not nearly enough horses to turn the whole army into cavalry.”

“Then you need to quickly find horses for all the men,” Cara said. “Get them wherever you can.”

The officer scratched his beard as he considered. He smiled at Cara. “Don’t you worry, we’ll find a way to do just that.”

Another man spoke up. “I know of a number of places in D’Hara where horses are raised. I think we can gather what we’ll need in relatively short order.” When Richard nodded his approval, he tapped a fist to his heart. “I’ll see to it immediately,” he said before making his way out into the rain.

“The army needs to be broken into smaller units,” Richard said to General Meiffert after the officer hurried past. “We don’t want them to stay together in a large force.”

The general stared off as he considered. “We’ll form them into a number of strike-forces and send them south immediately. They will have to depend on their own resources, make do for themselves. They can’t rely on command to direct all the details of their actions or supply them with anything.”

“We’ll need to set up some communication,” one of the older officers said, “but you’re right, I don’t think that it will be possible to coordinate everyone. We need to give everyone clear instructions and then let them do their job. There is plenty of Old World to attack.”

“It would be best if they didn’t keep in communication,” Nicci said. When a number of men stared at her she went on. “Any messengers who are captured will be tortured. The Order has experts in torture. Any man who is captured will tell what he knows. If all the units keep in communication, then they can be betrayed. If anyone captured doesn’t know where other units are, then they can’t betray that information.”

“Sounds like wise advice,” Richard said.

“Lord Rahl,” General Meiffert said in a cautious tone, “our entire army unleashed on the Old World, without an opposing force to check them, will wreak unprecedented devastation. Set loose with such a goal, all of them cavalry, well, they will lay waste to the Old World on a scale never previously known.”

The man was giving Richard one last chance to change his mind, and a last chance to make it clear that he would not lose his sense of purpose at their expense. Richard didn’t shy away from the implied question. He instead took a deep breath as he clasped his hands behind his back.

“You know, Benjamin, I remember a time when the mere mention of D’Haran soldiers struck fear into my heart.”

The men nearby nodded in regret for an edge lost.

“By drawing us into a final battle that we can’t possibly win,” Richard told them, “Jagang has succeeded in making D’Haran soldiers look weak and vulnerable. We are no longer feared. Because they now see us as weak, they think they can do as they will with us.

“I believe that this is our last chance to win the war. If we let it slip away, we are lost.

“I don’t want this chance wasted. Nothing is to be spared. I want Jagang to receive word from messenger after messenger that all of the Old World is burning. I want them to think that the underworld itself has opened up to swallow them.

“I want to again make people tremble in paralyzing fear at the very idea of avenging D’Haran soldiers coming after them. I want every man, woman, and child from the Old World to fear the phantom legions of D’Harans from the north. I want everyone in the Old World to come to hate the Order for bringing such suffering down upon them. I want a howl to raise from the Old World to end the war.

“That’s all I have to say, gentlemen. I don’t think we have a moment to lose, so let’s get to it.”

Men filled with a new resolve saluted as they filed past Richard, thanking him and saying that they would get the job done. Richard watched them dashing out into the steady rain toward their troops.

“Lord Rahl,” General Meiffert said as he stepped closer, “I just want you to know that even if you aren’t with us, you have led us in the coming battle. While it may not be one big battle like everyone was expecting, you have given the men something they would not have had without you. If this works, then your leadership is what will have reversed the course of the war.”

Richard watched the rain dripping off the edge of the canvas awning in a curtain of beaded water. The ground was turning muddy beneath the boots of the soldiers as they dashed in every direction. The sight reminded Richard of the vision of kneeling in the mud, his wrists bound behind his back, a knife at his throat. In his mind he could hear Kahlan screaming his name. He remembered his helplessness, his sense of his world ending. He had to swallow back the unbidden, rising terror. The sound of Kahlan’s screams made his very marrow ache.

Verna stepped up beside the general. “He’s right, Richard. I don’t like the idea of pulling people other than soldiers into the fight, but everything you said is true. They are the ones who brought this about. This is about survival of civilization itself and in that, they have made themselves part of the battle. There is no other way. The Sisters will do as you have asked, you have my word as Prelate.”

Richard had feared that she would hold out against the plan. He was too grateful for words that she had not. He embraced her tightly and whispered, “Thank you.”

He had always believed that those on his side had to not only understand the reasons they were fighting, but to do so with or without him, do so for themselves. He now believed that they did grasp the truth of everything at stake, and would fight not just because it was their duty, but for themselves.

Verna held Richard out at arm’s length and peered into his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

Richard shook his head. “I’m just so sick of the terrible things that are happening to people. I just want this nightmare to end.”

Verna showed him a small smile. “You have shown us the way to make that come about, Richard.”

“What part do you plan to play in this, Lord Rahl?” the general asked when Richard turned away from Verna. “If I might ask, that is.”

Richard sighed as he put his mind back to the matter at hand. As he did, the terrible vision faded. “I’m afraid that there is serious trouble with magic. The Imperial Order army is only one of the threats that must be dealt with.”

General Meiffert frowned. “What sort of trouble?”

Richard didn’t think he could explain the whole story again, so he kept it short and to the point. “The woman who made you a general is missing. She is in the hands of some of the Sisters of the Dark.”

The man looked completely puzzled. “Made me general?” He squinted off into the haze of his memory. “I can’t recall . . .”

“It’s all wrapped up in the trouble that has developed with magic.”

The general and Verna shared a look.

“It was Lord Rahl’s wife, Kahlan,” Cara said. “She’s the one, Benjamin, who named you general.” His expression turned to astonishment. Cara shrugged. “It’s a long story for another time,” she added as she laid a hand on his shoulder. “None of us but Lord Rahl remembers her. It was a spell called Chainfire.”

“Chainfire?” Verna grew yet more suspicious. “What Sisters?”

“Sister Ulicia and her other teachers,” Nicci said. “They found an ancient spell called Chainfire and initiated it.”

Verna regarded Nicci rather coolly. “I guess you would know what kind of trouble those women are, since you were one of them.”

“Yes,” Nicci said, wearily, “and you captured Richard and took him to the Palace of the Prophets. Had you not, he would not have destroyed the great barrier and the Imperial Order would be back in the Old World right now, not the New. If you want to start assigning blame, the Sisters of the Dark would never have encountered Richard had you not captured him in the first place and taken him back across the barrier to the Old World.”

Verna pressed her lips tight. Richard knew the look, and what was coming.

“All right,” he said in a low voice before they could start going at it. “We all did what we had to at the time, what we thought best. I’ve made my share of mistakes as well. We can only shape the future, not the past.”

Verna’s mouth twisted with a look that said she would like nothing more than to continue the argument, but she knew better. “You’re right.”

“Of course he is,” Cara said. “He is the Lord Rahl.”

In spite of herself, Verna smiled. “I guess he is, Cara. He has come to fulfill prophecy even if he didn’t intend to.”

“No,” Richard said, “I have come to try to help us save ourselves. This isn’t over yet, and prophecy, in the case of what you’re talking about, has a different meaning.”

Verna’s suspicion returned in a flash. “What meaning?”

“I don’t have time to go into it right now. I need to get back and see if Zedd and the others have come up with anything.”

“You mean about finding your wife, Lord Rahl?”

“Yes, General, but it gets worse. Other things are happening. There is fundamental trouble with magic.”

“Such as?” Verna pressed.

Richard appraised her eyes. “You need to know that the chimes have contaminated the world of life. Magic itself has been corrupted. Parts of it have already failed. There is no telling when yet more of it will fail, or how soon. We have to get back and see what can be done—if anything. Ann is there, along with Nathan, and they are working with Zedd to find some answers.”

Before Verna could launch into a barrage of questions, Richard turned his attention to the general. “One last thing. With no army here to stand in their way, I’m sure that Jagang will try to take the People’s Palace.”

General Meiffert scratched his head of blond hair as he thought it over. “I suppose.” He looked up. “But the palace is high on a huge plateau. There are only two ways up: the small road with the drawbridge, or through the great inner doors. If the great doors were closed there’s not going to be any assault up that way, and the road is pretty useless for an armed attack.

“Still,” the general said, “just to be on the safe side, I would advise that we send some of our best men up to the palace as reinforcements. With all of us heading south, Commander General Trimack and the First File will be facing Jagang’s entire army all alone. But still, an assault on the palace?” He shook his head skeptically. “The palace is impenetrable.”

“Jagang has gifted with him,” Cara reminded him. “And don’t forget, Lord Rahl, those Sisters made it into the palace before, way back in the beginning. Remember?”

Before Richard could answer, Verna caught his arm and turned him back to her frown. “Why would those Sisters ignite this spell you mentioned, this Chainfire spell?”

“To make people forget that Kahlan exists.”

“But why would they want to do such a thing?”

Richard sighed. “Sister Ulicia wanted to get Kahlan into the People’s Palace to steal the boxes of Orden. The Chainfire spell was designed to make a person the same thing as invisible. With the Chainfire spell ignited on Kahlan, no one remembers her. No one remembers that she walked right in and took the boxes out of the garden of life.”

“Took the boxes . . .” Verna blinked in astonishment. “What in the world for?”

“Sister Ulicia put them in play,” Nicci said.

“Dear Creator,” Verna said as she pressed a hand to her forehead. “I will leave some Sisters there with a stern warning.”

“Maybe you ought to be one of them,” Richard said as he glanced out and saw the wind come up to carry the rain sideways at times. “We can’t allow the palace to fall. Causing havoc down in the Old World is relatively simple conjuring for the Sisters. Defending the palace from Jagang’s horde and his gifted may be a much greater challenge.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” she admitted as she pulled a lock of wind-borne, wavy hair back off her face.

“Meanwhile, I’ll see what I can do to stop Ulicia and her Sisters of the Dark.” Richard glanced around at Nicci and Cara, then out at all the men rushing about through the rain to carry out their new mission. “I need to get back.”

General Meiffert clapped his fist over his heart. “We will be the steel against steel, Lord Rahl, so that you can be the magic against magic.”

Verna touched Richard’s cheek, her brown eyes welling up. “Take care, Richard. We all need you.”

He nodded and gave her a warm smile, putting more than words could say into it.

General Meiffert slipped an arm around Cara’s waist. “Could I escort you to your horses?”

Cara smiled up at him in a very feminine way. “I think we would like that.”

Nicci pulled the hood of her cloak up as they ducked out into the downpour. She looked over at Richard and frowned suspiciously.

“Where did you get such an idea as the ‘phantom legion’?”

He put a hand on the small of her back and guided her into the downpour. “Shota gave me the thought when she said I needed to stop chasing phantoms. She implied that a phantom can’t be found, can’t be caught. I want these men to be phantoms.”

She gently circled an arm around his shoulders as they sprinted for their horses. “You did the right thing, Richard.”

She must have read the sorrow in his eyes.