Soul of the Fire

Chapter 34

Not far off, Du Chaillu was being tended to by the blade masters and most of the hunters. The Baka Tau Mana spirit woman had returned from the spirit world, or near to it, and Richard could see she had left behind her warmth. The blankets were insufficient, so Richard had told the men they could make a fire to help warm her if they all stayed together to reduce the chances of any surprises.

Two of the Mud People cleared grass and dug a shallow pit while the other hunters made tightly wound grass billets. Twisting wrung out most of the moisture. They coated four of the grass bundles in a resinous pitch they carried with them and then stacked them in a pyramid. With those burning, they windrowed the rest of the grass billets around the little fire to dry them out. In short order they had dry grass for firewood and a good fire going.

Du Chaillu looked like death warmed up a bit. She was still very sick. At least she was alive. Her breathing was better, if interrupted by coughing. The blade masters were seeing to it that she drank hot tea while the hunters-turned-mother-hens cooked her up some tava porridge. It appeared she would recover and remain in the world of life for the time being.

Richard found it miraculous to think a person could come alive again after dying. Had someone told him such a thing, instead of him seeing it himself, he doubted he would have believed them. In more ways than one, his beliefs had been skewed and his thinking altered.

Richard no longer had any doubt as to what they must do.

Cara, arms folded, watched the men as they took care of Du Chaillu. Kahlan, too, was watching with fascination equal to any of the rest of them—except Cara; she didn’t think it was at all out of the ordinary for a dead person to breathe again. What was ordinary for a Mord-Sith seemed very different from what others thought ordinary.

Richard gently took a hold of Kahlan’s arm and pulled her closer. “Before, you said no one had gotten past the Dominie Dirtch in centuries. Did someone once get past them?”

Kahlan turned her attention to him. “It’s unclear and a matter of dispute, outside of Anderith, anyway.”

Ever since it had first been mentioned by Du Chaillu, Richard had gotten the feeling Anderith wasn’t Kahlan’s favorite place.

“How so?”

“It’s a story requiring some explanation.”

Richard pulled three pieces of tava bread from his pack and handed one each to Cara and Kahlan. He settled his gaze on Kahlan’s face.

“I’m listening.”

Kahlan twisted a small chunk off her tava bread, apparently pondering how to begin.

“The land now known as Anderith was once invaded by people known as the Hakens. The people of Anderith teach that the Hakens used the Dominie Dirtch against the people who were then living there, those people now called the Anders.

“When I was young and studied at the Keep, the wizards taught me differently. Either way, it was many centuries ago; history has a way of getting muddled by those controlling the teaching of it. For example, I would venture the Imperial Order will teach a very different account of Renwold than we would teach.”

“I’d like to hear about Anderith history,” he said as she ate the chunk of tava bread she had torn off. “About the history as the wizards taught you.”

Kahlan swallowed before she began. “Well, centuries ago—maybe as long as two to three thousand years ago—the Haken people came out of the wilds and invaded Anderith. It’s thought they were a remote people whose land possibly became unsuitable for some reason. Such a thing has happened in other places, for example when a river’s course is changed by an earthquake or flood. Sometimes a formerly productive area will become too dry to support farming or animals. Sometimes crops fail and people will migrate.

“Anyway, according to what I was taught, the Hakens somehow made it past the Dominie Dirtch. How, no one knows. Many of them were slaughtered, but they somehow finally made it past and conquered the land now known as Anderith.

“The Anders were a mostly nomadic people, composed of tribes who fought fiercely among themselves. They were uneducated in things like written language, metalworking, construction, and such, and they had little social organization. In short, compared to the Haken invaders they were a backward people. It wasn’t that they weren’t smart, just that the Hakens were a people possessed of advanced learning and methods.

“Haken weapons were also superior. They had cavalry for example, and they had a better grasp of coordination and tactics on a large scale. They had a clear command structure whereas the Anders bickered endlessly over who would direct their forces. That was one reason the Hakens, once past the Dominie Dirtch, were easily able to bring the Anders to heel.”

Richard handed Kahlan a waterskin. “The Hakens were a people of war and conquest, I take it. They lived by conquest?”

Kahlan wiped water that was dribbling down her chin. “No, they weren’t the type to conquer simply for booty and slaves. They didn’t make war for mere predation.

“They brought with them their knowledge of everything from making leather shoes to working iron. They were a literate people. They had an understanding of higher mathematics and how to apply it to endeavors such as architecture.

“Their core skill was farming on a large scale, with plows pulled by oxen and horses, rather than hand-hoed gardens like the Anders kept to supplement their hunting and gathering of things growing wild. The Hakens created irrigation systems and introduced rice in addition to other crops. They knew how to develop and select better strains of crops, such as wheat, to give them the best use of land and weather. They were experts at horse breeding. They knew how to breed better livestock and raised vast herds.”

Kahlan handed back the waterskin and ate a bite of tava bread. She gestured with the half-eaten tava.

“As is the way of conquest, the Hakens ruled as victors often do. Haken ways supplanted Ander ways. Peace came to the land, albeit peace enforced by Haken overlords. They were harsh, but not brutal; rather than slaughtering the Anders as was the custom of many conquering invaders, they enfolded the Anders into Haken society, even if it was at first as cheap labor.”

Richard spoke with his mouth full. “The Anders, too, benefited from the Haken ways, then?”

“Yes. Under direction of the Haken overlords, food was plentiful. Both the Haken and the Ander people prospered. The Anders had been a sparse population always on the brink of vanishing. With abundant food the population multiplied.”

When Du Chaillu fell to a coughing fit, they turned to her. Richard squatted and dug through his pack until he found a cloth packet Nissel had given them. Unrolling it, he found inside some of the leaves Nissel had once given him to calm pain. Kahlan pointed out the ground herbs supposed to settle the stomach. He tied some into a cloth and handed the bag of ground herbs to Cara.

“Tell the men to put this in the tea and let it steep for a bit. It will help her stomach. Tell Chandalen that Nissel gave it to us—he can explain it to Du Chaillu’s men, so they won’t worry.”

Cara nodded. He put the leaves in her palm. “Tell her that after she drinks the tea, she should chew one of these leaves. It will calm her pain. Later, if she is sick at her stomach again, or in pain, she can chew another.”

Cara hurried to the task.

Cara would likely not admit it, but Richard knew she would appreciate the satisfaction of giving assistance to someone in need. He couldn’t imagine how much greater the satisfaction would be to bring a person back to life.

“So, what happened then, with the Hakens and the Anders? Everything went well? The Anders learned from the Hakens?” He picked up his tava bread for a bite. “Brotherhood and peace?”

“For the most part. The Hakens brought with them orderly rule, where before the Anders squabbled among themselves, often leading to bloody conflicts. The invading Hakens had actually killed fewer Anders than the Anders themselves regularly killed in their own territorial wars. At least, so said the wizards who taught me.

“Though I’m not saying it was by any means entirely fair or equitable, the Hakens did have a system of justice; it was more than the simple mob rule of the Anders, or the right of the strongest. Once they had conquered the Anders and shown them their ways, they taught the Anders to read.”

“The Anders, who had been a backward people, may have been ignorant, but they are a very clever people. They may not devise things on their own, but they are quick to grasp a better way and make it their own on a whole new scale. In that way, they are brilliant.”

Richard waved his rolled up tava bread. “So, why isn’t it called Hakenland, or something? I mean, you said the vast majority of people in Anderith are Haken.”

“That’s later. I’m coming to it.” Kahlan pulled off another chunk of tava. “The way the wizards explained it to me was that the Hakens had a system of justice, which, once they settled in Anderith, and with the spreading prosperity, only became better.”

“Justice, from the invaders?”

“Civilization does not unfold fully developed, Richard. It’s a building process. Part of that process is the mixing of peoples, and that mixing is often via conquest, but it can often bring new and better ways. You can’t impulsively judge situations by such simple criteria as invasion and conquest.”

“But if one people comes in and forces another people—”

“Look at D’Hara. Because of conquest—by you—it is coming to be a place of justice, where torture and murder are no longer the way of rule.”

Richard wasn’t about to argue that point. “I suppose. But it just seems such a shame for a culture to be destroyed by another that invades them. It isn’t fair.”

She gave him one of her looks akin to looks Zedd sometimes gave him: a look that said she hoped he would see truth rather than repeat by rote a popular but misguided notion. For that reason, he listened carefully as she spoke.

“Culture carries no privilege to exist. Cultures do not have value simply because they are. Some cultures, the world is better off without.” She lifted an eyebrow. “I submit, for your consideration, the Imperial Order.”

Richard let out a long breath. “I see what you mean.”

He took a swig of water as she ate some more tava. It still seemed somehow wrong to him for a culture, with its own history and traditions, to be wiped out, but he understood, to an extent, what she was saying.

“So the Ander way of life ceased to be. You were saying, about the Haken system of justice?”

“Despite what we may now think of how they came to be there, the Hakens were a people who valued fairness. In fact, they considered it essential to an orderly and prosperous society.

“Thus, over time, subsequent generations of Hakens gave increasing freedoms to the Anders they had conquered, — eventually coming to view them as equals. Those subsequent generations came to share sensibilities similar to ours, and also came to feel shame at what their ancestors had done to the Ander people.”

Kahlan gazed out over the plains. “Of course, it’s easier to feel shame if those guilty are centuries dead, especially when such discrediting, by default, confers upon yourself a higher moral standard without having to stand the test in the true environment of the time.

“Anyway, their adherence to their notion of justice turned out to be the beginning of the downfall of the Haken people. The Anders, because of their conquest, always hated the Hakens and never ceased to harbor a hunger for revenge.”

One of the hunters, who had been cooking up porridge, brought over a warm piece of tava bread cupped in each hand and heaped with thick steaming porridge. Kahlan and Richard each gratefully took the hot food and she thanked him in his language.

“So how could a Haken system of justice,” Richard said, after they each had eaten some of the porridge laced with sweet dried berries, “result in the Hakens now being virtual slaves because of the Anders’ sense of justice? That just doesn’t seem possible.”

He saw that Du Chaillu, wrapped in blankets beside the fire, wasn’t interested in porridge. Cara had steeped the tea with the bag of herbs, and was hunkered beside Du Chaillu, seeing to it that she at least sipped some from a small wooden cup.

“A system of justice was not the cause of the Haken downfall, Richard, merely a step along the way—one of the bare bones of history. I’m only telling you the salient points. The results. Such shifts in culture and society take place over time.

“Because of fair laws, the Anders were able to make advances that in the end resulted in them being able to seize power. Anders are no different than anyone else in their hunger for power.”

“The Hakens were a ruling people. How did it get from there to the other way round?” Richard shook his head. He had a hard time believing it was as the wizards portrayed it.

“There is more in the middle.” Kahlan licked porridge off a finger. “Once the Anders had access to fair laws, it became for them the sharp end of a wedge.

“Once folded into the society, Anders used their freedom to gain status. At first, it was participation in business, the labor trades which became guilds, and membership on small local councils, things like that. One step at a time.

“Make no mistake, the Anders worked hard, too. Because the laws became fair to all, they were able to gain through their own hard work the same sorts of things the Hakens had. They became successful and respected.

“Most importantly, though, they became the moneylenders.

“You see, the Anders, it turned out, had a talent for business. Over time they became the merchant class instead of simply the working class. Being the merchants enabled families, over time, to acquire fortunes.

“They eventually became moneylenders, and thus a financial power. A few large and extensive Ander families controlled much of the finances and were to a large extent the unseen power behind Haken rule. Hakens grew complacent, while the Anders remained focused.

“Anders also became teachers. Almost from the beginning, the Hakens considered teaching a simple role the Ander people should be allowed to fill, freeing Hakens for more adult matters of rule. The Anders took on all aspects of teaching—not just the teaching itself—incrementally gaining control of the instruction of fit teachers, and therefore of the curriculum.”

Richard swallowed a mouthful of porridge. “I take it that was, for the Hakens, somehow a mistake?”

With her half-eaten tava-bread plate of porridge, Kahlan gestured for emphasis. “Besides reading and math, the children were taught history and culture, ostensibly so they would grow up to understand their place in their land’s culture and society.

“The Hakens wanted all children to learn a better way than war and conquest. They believed the Ander teachings of brutal Haken conquest at the expense of noble Ander people would help their children to grow up to be civilized, with respect for others. Instead, the guilt it put on young minds contributed to the erosion of the cohesive nature of Haken society, and of respect for the authority of Haken rule.

“And then came a cataclysmic event—a ruinous decade—long drought. It was during this drought that the Anders finally made their move to oust Haken rule.

“The entire economy was based on the production of crops—wheat, mostly. Farms failed, and farmers were unable to deliver export crops for which the merchants had already paid them. Debts were called due as everyone tried to survive the hard times. Many without great financial resources lost their farms.

“There might have been government controls placed on the economic system, to slow the panic, but the ruling Hakens feared to displease the moneylenders who backed them.

“And then worse problems erupted.

“People began dying. There were food riots. Fairfield was burned to the ground. Haken and Ander alike rose up in violent lawless rioting. The land was in chaos. Many people left for other lands, hoping to find a new life before they starved.

“The Anders, though, used their money to buy food from abroad. Only the financial resources of the wealthy Anders could purchase food from afar, and it was that food supply that was the only hope of survival for most people. The Anders, with this supply of food from abroad, were seen as the hand of salvation.

“The Anders bought out failed businesses and farms from people desperate for money. The Anders’ money, meager as it was, and their food supply, was the only thing keeping most families from starving.

“It was then the Anders began to extract the true price, and their vengeance.

“The government, run by the Hakens, was blamed by the mobs in the streets for the starvation. Anders, with their merchant connections, fomented and spread the insurrection from place to place. Anarchy befell the land as the Haken rulers were put to death in the streets, their bodies dragged before cheering crowds.

“Haken intellectuals drew the blood lust of frightened people for somehow being responsible for the starvation. Well-educated Hakens were viewed as enemies of the people, even by the majority of Hakens who were farmers and laborers. The purge of the learned Hakens was bloody. In the rioting and lawlessness, the entire Haken ruling class was systematically murdered. Every Haken of accomplishment was suspect, and so put to death.

“The Anders swiftly ruined, by either financial means or violent mobs, any Haken business or concern left.

“In the vacuum, the Anders seized power and brought order with food for starving people, Ander and Haken alike. When the dust settled, the Anders were in control of the land, and with strong forces of mercenaries they could afford to hire, soon held the land in an iron grip.”

Richard had stopped eating. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. He stared transfixed as Kahlan swept her hand expansively in telling of the downfall of reason.

“Anders changed the order of everything, making black white and white black. They declared no Haken could fairly judge an Ander, because of the ancient Haken tradition of injustice to Anders. Conversely, Anders asserted, because they had for so long been subjugated by their wicked Haken overlords, that they understood the nature of inequity, and so would be the only ones qualified to rule in matters of justice.

“Woeful tales of Haken cruelty were the currency of social acceptance. Frightened Hakens, in an attempt to prove the horrific charges untrue, and avoid being singled out by the well-armed troops, willingly submitted to Ander authority and those merciless mercenaries.

“The Anders, so long out of power, were ruthless in pressing their advantage.

“Haken people were forbidden to hold positions of power. Eventually, supposedly because the Haken overlords required Anders to address those overlords by surname, even the right to have a surname was denied the Hakens, unless they somehow proved themselves worthy and received special permission.”

“But haven’t they intermixed?” Richard asked. “After all that time, didn’t the Haken and Ander people intermarry? Didn’t they all blend together into one people?”

Kahlan shook her head. “From the beginning, the Anders, a tall dark-haired people, thought wedding the redheaded Hakens was a crime against the Creator. They believe the Creator, in His wisdom, made people distinct and different. They didn’t believe people should interbreed like livestock being bred for a new quality—which was what the Hakens had done. I’m not saying it didn’t occasionally happen, but to this day such a thing is rare.”

Richard rolled up his last bite of tava with porridge. “So, what’s it like there, now?” He popped the bite in his mouth.

“Since only the downtrodden—the Anders—can be virtuous, because they were oppressed, only they are allowed to rule. They teach that Haken oppression continues to this day. Even a look from a Haken can be interpreted as a projection of hate. Conversely, Hakens cannot be downtrodden, and thus virtuous, since by nature they are corrupt.

“It’s now against the law for Hakens to learn to read, out of fear they would again seize rule and go on to brutalize and butcher the Ander people, as surely as night always extinguishes day, to put their words to it. Hakens are required to attend classes called penance assembly to keep them in line. It’s all systematized and codified the way Anders now rule Hakens.

“Keep in mind, Richard, the history I told you is what was taught me by the wizards. What the Anders teach is quite different. They teach that they were an oppressed people who by their own higher nature have, after centuries of domination, once again exerted their cultural superiority. For all I know, their version could even be true.”

Richard was standing, hands on hips, staring incredulously. “And the council in Aydindril allowed this? They allowed the Anders to enslave the Haken people in such a fashion?”

“The Hakens meekly submit. They believe as they were taught by Ander teachers—that this is a better way.”

“But how could the Central Council allow such a perversion of justice?”

“You forget, Richard, the Midlands was an alliance of sovereign lands. The Confessors helped see to it that rule in the Midlands was, to a certain extent, fair. We did not tolerate murder of political opponents, things like that, but if a people like the Hakens willingly went along with the way their land worked, the council had little say. Brutal rule was opposed. Bizarre rule was not.”

Richard threw up his hands. “But the Hakens only go along because they are taught this nonsense. They don’t know how ridiculous it is. It is the equivalent of the abuse of an ignorant people.”

“Abuse maybe to you, Richard. They see it differently. They see it as a way to peace in their land. That is their right.”

“The fact they were deliberately taught in a way to make them ignorant is proof of the abuse.”

She tilted her head toward him. “Aren’t you the one who just told me the Hakens had no right to destroy the Ander culture? Now you argue the council should have done no less?”

Richard’s face reflected frustration. “You were talking about the council of the Midlands?”

Kahlan took another drink and then handed him the waterskin.

“This all happened centuries ago. No one land was strong enough to enforce law on the rest of the Midlands. Together, through the council, we simply try to work, together. The Confessors interceded when rulers stepped outside the bounds.

“Had we tried to dictate how each sovereign land was to be ruled, the alliance would have fallen apart and war would have replaced reason and cooperation. I’m not saying it was perfect, Richard, but it allowed most people to live in peace.”

He sighed. “I suppose. I’m no expert on governing. I guess it served the people of the Midlands for thousands of years.”

Kahlan picked at her tava bread. “Things like what happened in Anderith are one reason I came to understand and believe in what you are trying to accomplish, Richard. Until you came along, with D’Hara behind your word, no one land was strong enough to set down just law for all peoples. Against a foe like Jagang, the alliance of the Midlands had no chance.”

Richard couldn’t really imagine how it must have been for her, as Mother Confessor, to see what she had worked for her entire life fall apart. Richard’s father, Darken Rahl, had set in motion events that had altered the world. Kahlan, at least, had seen the opportunity in the chaos.

Richard rubbed his brow as he considered what to do next.

“All right, so I now understand a bit about the history of Anderith. I’m sure that if I knew the history of D’Hara I’d find that far more sordid, and yet they now follow me and struggle for justice—strange as I realize that sounds. The spirits know some people have hung the crimes of D’Hara’s past around my Rahl neck.

“From what you’ve told me of Anderith history, they sound like a people who would never submit to the rule of the Imperial Order. Do you think we can get Anderith to join with us?”

Kahlan took a deep breath as she considered it. He had been hoping she would say yes without having to think about it.

“They are ruled by a sovereign, who is also their religious leader. That element of their society hearkens back to the religious beliefs of the Anders. The Directors of the Office of Cultural Amity hold sway over who will be named Sovereign for life. The Directors are supposed to be a moral check on the man appointed Sovereign—in a way like the First Wizard selecting the right person to be Seeker.

“The Anderith people believe that once anointed by the Directors, the man named Sovereign transcends mere matters of the flesh, and is in touch with the Creator Himself. Some fervently believe he speaks in this world for the Creator. Some view him with the reverence they would reserve for the Creator Himself.”

“So, he’s the one who will need to be convinced to join us?”

“In part, but the Sovereign doesn’t really rule in the day-to-day sense. He’s more a figurehead, loved by the people for what he represents. Nowadays Anders make up less than maybe fifteen or twenty percent of the population, but the Hakens feel much the same about their Sovereign.

“He has the power to order the rest of the government to a course, but more often he simply approves the one they select. For the large part, the ruling of Anderith is done by the Minister of Culture. The Minister sets the agenda for the land. That would be a man named Bertrand Chanboor.

“The Minister of Culture’s office just outside Fairfield is the governing body that ultimately would make the decision. The representatives I met with in Aydindril will report our words to Minister Chanboor.

“No matter the dim history, the present-day fact is that Anderith is a power to be reckoned with. If the ancient Anders were a primitive people, they are no longer so. They are wealthy merchants who control vast trade and wealth. They govern with equal skill; they have a secure grip on their power and their land.”

Richard scanned the empty grasslands. Ever since the chime had come to kill Du Chaillu, and he had felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end, he kept checking for the feeling, hoping that, if it came again, he would be aware of the sensation sooner and be able to warn everyone in time.

He glanced over to see Cara feeding Du Chaillu porridge. She needed to be back with her people, not carrying her unborn child all over the countryside.

“The Anders are not fat, soft, lazy merchants, either,” Kahlan went on. “Except for the army, where a semblance of equality exists, only Anders are allowed to carry weapons, and they tend to be good with them. The Anders, despite what you may think of them, are no fools and neither are they to be easily won over.”

Richard again gazed out over the grasslands as he made plans in his head.

“In Ebinissia, in Renwold,” he said, “Jagang has shown what he does to people who refuse to join him. If Anderith doesn’t join us, they will again fall to a foreign invasion. This time, though, the invaders will have no sense of justice.”