Severed Souls

CHAPTER 62

“Cunning folk?” Commander Fister asked in a quiet voice when he overheard what Irena had said.

She nodded to the commander as he leaned down close to her. “I think so. I’ve never met any of them myself. From things I’d always heard, I never wanted to.”

The commander appraised the situation and how many of the strange figures stood scattered throughout the dark wood. There were not enough for the men of the First File to be concerned, if it was only a matter of numbers. No one, though, thought that numbers were the problem.

“Tell the men to stand down,” Richard told the commander. “We don’t know that they mean us any harm and we don’t want to give them cause. This is still part of the D’Haran Empire. We are not invaders, but we are still coming into their home, so we owe them respect. I don’t want them to see us as a threat.”

“Got it,” Commander Fister said as he hiked up his trousers. “Be polite to the nice people with horns.”

He moved off, casually passing the word among the waiting men.

Richard saw one of the closer figures thump his staff on the ground three times. Small arcing sparks crackled at the top end of the staff.

Richard looked over at Nicci out of the corner of his eye. “Gifted magic?”

“No,” she said. “Some other kind of power, most likely occult abilities.”

“All the more reason to be cautious and show them a calm face,” Kahlan said.

Richard nodded his agreement. “Wait here.”

Nicci immediately seized his shirt at his shoulder. “No you don’t. You stay right where you are, protected by all of us. Let him come to us.”

Richard let out a deep sigh. “All right.”

He lifted an arm, waving, so that the man who had thumped the staff would see him. The dark figure watched Richard for a time, waiting to see what the soldiers off to the sides would do, before finally coming forward to meet them.

As the figure who had thumped his staff approached, he was joined by half a dozen other figures. They followed close behind him, off to the sides a little. All of them looked the same. All had staffs. All were coal black, much like the tree trunks all around them. All of them had long horns.

Once they were close enough, Richard was surprised to see that they were all covered head to toe in what appeared to be thick, black mud heavily loaded with straw. They all had steer skulls over their heads. The steer skulls were covered in the same black, muddy straw.

The idea of people wearing steer skulls over their heads struck him as rather silly, but standing there covered in the thick layer of black straw, eyes staring out from inside those skulls, they didn’t look at all silly. They looked intimidating. He knew, though, that intimidation was obviously the purpose. Intimidation often provided safety.

Richard could see nothing of them other than the thick layer of muddy straw and the skulls covering their heads. It was not even possible to tell if they were men or women.

“My name is Richard,” he said when the one who had thumped his staff came to a halt.

The man waited without saying anything.

“It is urgent that we get to Saavedra,” Richard told them.

“Not to us,” the man said in a voice muffled by the skull he was wearing over his head.

Richard noticed that more figures covered in the same pitch-black straw and wearing the same kind of steer skulls had emerged from behind trees. They gathered, closing in around the interlopers. He knew that the soldiers could easily handle the numbers, but he didn’t think they could handle the occult powers that he feared these people could wield.

“We mean you and your people no harm,” Richard said. “We only wish to pass through here and we will be on our way.”

The straw man looked among several of those beside Richard. “There is evil among you.”

Richard wasn’t sure what he meant. “Evil?”

“You,” the man said, tipping his staff toward Richard. “You have it in you.” He tipped his staff toward Kahlan. “She does as well.”

Richard nodded. “We’re sick. That is why we need to get to Saavedra. We need to get there so we can be cured of this sickness. But you needn’t worry, you cannot catch it from us.”

“We know that.”

Richard wondered if that was true, and if so, how the man could know. Of course, he was able to recognize the poison in him and Kahlan, and it certainly was evil. Richard suspected it was an indication of the abilities of their occult powers. Jit had occult abilities, and this poison had come from her, so in a way, it made sense that they would recognize it.

“We mean you no harm,” Richard said. “We only wish to pass peacefully through your land. We will hurry and pass through quickly and be swiftly on our way.”

“You may only pass if the oracle says that you may pass.”

Richard shrugged. “That sounds fair. I would be happy to speak with your oracle.”

The head with horns swiveled as the man apparently looked through the eye holes in the skull at the people to each side of Richard.

“You do not choose who will speak to the oracle,” he said. “The oracle chooses who will speak to her.”

Richard deliberately didn’t react to the man’s hostile tone, but instead tried to appear calm and agreeable. Even so, he was only a twitch away from drawing his sword if matters took a turn for the worse.

“All right. Will you take us to your oracle, then?”

The man appraised them for a moment longer. He thumped his staff, causing the top end to flicker with little flashes.

“We are the people of the straw. Come with us.”

He and the other straw figures turned and started weaving their way among the dark trunks of trees, through the eerie misty haze, toward where Richard had last seen Hunter.

Richard glanced over at Nicci before taking up Kahlan’s hand and starting out after the people of the straw.