Phantom: Chainfire Trilogy Part 2

Chapter 27

“Lord Rahl!”

Richard turned just in time to see Berdine, in a dead run, leap toward him. She landed against his chest, throwing her arms and legs around him. The impact drove the wind from his lungs. Her long, single braid of wavy brown hair whipped around him. Richard staggered back a step as he put his arms around her to help keep her from falling. With her arms and legs clinging to him, though, she didn’t appear to need his help.

Richard had rarely seen even a flying squirrel make a better leap. Despite everything on his mind, he could not help but to smile at Berdine’s exuberance. Who would have thought that a Mord-Sith would ever again come to be as spontaneously joyful as a little girl.

She sat back, gripping his shoulders, legs locked around his middle, grinning at him. She looked over at Cara’s scowl. “He still likes me best—I can tell.”

Cara simply rolled her eyes.

With his hands on Berdine’s waist, Richard lifted her and set her down. She was shorter than most of the other Mord-Sith Richard knew. She was also more voluptuous, and far more vivacious. Richard had always found her to be a rather disarming combination of guileless sensuality combined with a mischievous, playful nature. Like any of the Mord-Sith, though, she also possessed the potential for instantaneous, ruthless violence lying hidden just below the sparkling surface of her childlike wonder. She also loved Richard passionately and openly, but in an honest, innocent, filial sort of manner.

“You are a sight to warm my heart, Berdine. How are you?”

She puzzled at him. “Lord Rahl, I am Mord-Sith. How do you think I am?”

“As much trouble as ever,” he said under his breath.

She smiled, pleased by the comment. “We heard that you were here earlier, but I just missed you. That’s twice I’ve missed you recently. I wasn’t going to let you vanish again without seeing you. We have so much to talk about that I don’t even know where to begin.”

Richard looked down the broad corridor, across the expanse of richly veined golden marble set in a diagonal pattern within a border of black granite, and saw a knot of soldiers marching toward him at a brisk pace. High overhead rain beat steadily against skylights that let in flat gray light. Somehow, that dull light managed to gather and reflect brightly off the polished breastplates of the soldiers.

All of them had crescent axes hooked at their belts, along with the swords and long knives they also carried. Some of the men were armed with crossbows that were cocked and ready to fire. Those men, given ample clearance by the others, wore black gloves. Their crossbows were loaded with deadly-looking red-fletched arrows.

The halls were crowded with people of every sort, from those who lived and worked there to people who had come to trade or sell goods. All of them gave the approaching soldiers ample space. At the same time, they watched Richard while trying not to look like they were watching him. When Richard met their gazes or caught them looking, some tipped their heads in a bow while others fell to one knee. Richard smiled, trying to put them at ease.

It was a rare event, in recent years anyway, when the Lord Rahl was home in his palace. Richard could hardly expect people not to be curious to see him. In his black war wizard’s outfit, along with the flowing golden cape, he was hard to miss. He still couldn’t think of such a place as his home, though; in his own heart he thought of the Hartland woods as home. He had grown up walking among towering trees, not lofty stone pillars.

Commander General Trimack of the First File at the People’s Palace came to a smart halt and in salute thumped a fist against the shaped leather armor over his chest. The soft metallic rattle of gear died out after the dozen men with him all saluted together. These men, constantly scanning the halls and appraising each of the people moving past, were the Lord Rahl’s personal guards when he was at his palace. They each took in Cara and swiftly assessed Nicci, standing just beside Richard. These men were the ring of steel that kept harm from getting a look at the Lord Rahl. They served in the First File because they were the most skilled and loyal of all the D’Haran troops.

After the salute, the commander added a bow to Cara and then Richard. “Lord Rahl, we’re pleased to have you home, at last.”

“I’m afraid, General Trimack, that it’s only a brief visit. I can’t stay.” Richard gestured to Cara and Nicci. “We’ve got urgent business and have to leave at once.”

General Trimack, looking sincerely disappointed but not entirely surprised, sighed. He then appeared to have a thought and brightened a bit. “Did you find the woman—your wife—who had been up in the garden of life and left that statue you found there?”

Richard felt a pang of anguish for Kahlan. He felt guilty for not doing more to find her. How could he let other matters keep him from finding Kahlan? How could there be anything important enough to distract him from finding her? He tried not to think of the vision of her that Shota had given him. It seemed like with everything going on he had pushed aside his search for the one person who meant the most to him. He knew that was not the way it really was, that it couldn’t be helped, but still, he needed to get back to the Keep and back to working on a way to find her.

Even while working on other things, she was never really out of his thoughts. He kept trying to think of where Sister Ulicia would have taken Kahlan. Now that they had the boxes of Orden—or at least two of them—where would the Sisters go? What could they be up to? If he could figure that out then maybe he could go after them.

It had also occurred to him that they still needed The Book of Counted Shadows in order to open the right box of Orden, so it was possible that if he simply sat still in one place long enough they would have to come to him, since the book only existed now in his memory. The simple fact was, unless they were willing to guess and risk being wrong, they needed The Book of Counted Shadows to open the right box, and Richard could not imagine that they would risk the loss of what they believed would be their immortality on chance. They needed the key that only he had to unlock the solution to opening the correct box. Kahlan was part of the key to that solution, but they still needed what only Richard had.

The only method he could think of to find her was to learn everything he could about Chainfire and the boxes of Orden, and somewhere in that mix maybe there would be a clue as to what the Sisters would do next. The books he needed to study to that end, along with the people who understood them best and had by far the most experience at such things, were at the Keep. He needed to get back there.

Richard looked to the general’s waiting eyes. “Not yet, I’m afraid. We’re still looking for her, but thank you for your concern.”

No one but Richard even remembered her, remembered her smile, the shadow of her soul showing in her green eyes. At times Kahlan didn’t even seem real to him, either. She seemed impossible, like no one who could be all that he remembered, like she could only be an invention of his deepest desires in life. He could understand the difficulty those closest to him had in dealing with the situation.

“Sorry to hear that, Lord Rahl.” The general scanned the throngs moving down the hallway. “I trust that at least you are not here this time in the middle of a mess of trouble?”

It was Richard’s turn to sigh. How to begin?

“In a way, I am.”

“The Imperial Order army is continuing to advance on D’Hara?” the general guessed.

Richard nodded. “I’m afraid so. The long and the short of it is, General, I’ve given our forces orders that they are not to engage Emperor Jagang’s army in battle because they don’t have the numbers to stand a chance. It would be a slaughter for no purpose and Jagang would still end up having the New World all to himself.”

General Trimack scratched a scar that stood out white against the ruddy skin at the back of his jaw. “What other option is there, Lord Rahl, but to meet the enemy in battle?”

His quiet, simple words had the sound of advice, of caution born of experience, of hope balanced on a razor’s edge of despair. For a moment, Richard listened to the cathedral whisper of feet against stone as the crowds moved steadily through the hallway.

“I’ve ordered our forces to set out at once to lay waste to the Old World.” Richard turned his glare back to the general. “They wanted war; I intend to jam their wish down their throats and see them choke to death on it.”

At the startling news, the mouths of some of the men dropped open. Commander General Trimack stared in surprise for a moment, then he thoughtfully stroked the scar with a single finger. A sly look finally showed that, despite his initial surprise, he was beginning to like the idea.

“I guess this means that the First File will be called upon to keep the bastards out of the palace.”

Richard marked the man’s steady gaze. “Do you think you can do it?”

A crooked smile curled across the general’s mouth. “Lord Rahl, my humble talent will hardly be the margin of safety for the palace. Your ancestors built this place as they did specifically to prevent anyone from taking it.” He gestured at the soaring columns, walls, and balconies all around them. “Besides the natural defenses, this place is invested with powers that weaken any of the enemy gifted.”

Richard knew that the palace was built in the shape of a spell that strengthened the power of any Rahl within the palace, and sapped the strength of any other gifted person. The whole palace itself was constructed in the form of an emblem. To an extent, Richard understood its shape and the general nature of its meaning. He could read the motif of strength inherent in the pattern.

Unfortunately, that spell would weaken even those with the gift who were on his side, such as Verna. He needed Verna to be able to help protect the palace, but if she and the Sisters with her were weakened by that spell, then she would have a harder time defending the palace. The balance to that, he supposed, was that anyone attacking would have the same problem, so they would not have an advantage over Verna and her Sisters. There was no alternative but to count on Verna to do her best.

“Besides reinforcements, I’m sending some Sisters here, along with Verna, their prelate.”

General Trimack nodded. “I know the woman. She’s a stubborn one when she’s happy and impossible when she’s not. I’ll be glad she’ll be on our side, Lord Rahl, and not the other way round.”

Richard had to smile. The man did indeed know Verna.

“I’ll return when I can, General. In the meantime, I’ll count on you to safeguard the People’s Palace.”

“The great inner doors will have to be sealed.”

“Do what you think best, General.”

“The great doors are invested with the same power as the rest of the palace, so they are not a weak link that will provide any opportunity for attack. The only problem with closing the doors is that it puts an end to commerce, which is the lifeblood of the palace . . . in peacetime, anyway.”

Richard watched the throngs of people making their way through the passageway and along the balconies above. “With what’s coming, commerce is not going to be possible at the palace anyway. No one is going to be able to travel the Azrith Plain—or anywhere else in the New World, for that matter. Trade everywhere is being disrupted. Prepare for a long siege.”

The man shrugged. “That’s what enemy armies historically do, sit out there and hope to starve us out. Can’t be done; out on the Azrith Plain they’ll starve first. Will you be coming back, Lord Rahl, to help in the protection of the palace?”

Richard swiped a hand across his mouth. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to return. But I will if I can, I promise. For now, I have to put my mind to this new effort.

“We’re going to try to kill the Order by cutting out its heart, rather than trying to fight its muscle.”

“And if they lay siege to the palace in the meantime and you need to return? How will you be able to get back in?”

“Well, I don’t have a dragon, so I can’t fly in.” When the man only stared blankly at him, Richard cleared his throat and said, “If need be I can come back the way I came today, with the aid of magic—through the sliph.”

The general didn’t look like he understood, but he accepted Richard’s word without question.

“I’m on my way back there now, General. If you want, you can escort us and see it for yourself.”

He looked somewhat relieved to be invited to be allowed to do his job of protecting the Lord Rahl. Richard took Berdine’s arm and started walking her down the hall as all the soldiers fanned out to form a protective perimeter.

Berdine was considerably shorter than Richard, so he leaned down a bit to speak without raising his voice. “I need to know some things. Have you been translating any more of Kolo’s journal?”

She grinned like a maid full of gossip. “I’ll say I have. Because of some of the things Kolo had to say, though, I’ve had to start researching other books as well—so that I could better understand how it all fits together.” She leaned closer. “There were things going on that we didn’t even realize, before, when we worked on it together. We had only scratched the surface.”

Richard didn’t think that she knew the half of it. “Do any of those things have to do with First Wizard Baraccus?”

Berdine abruptly halted and stared at him. “How did you know that?”