Warheart

CHAPTER 11

Kahlan stood in a rush when she saw Red emerge from the stand of oaks. Nicci stood beside her. The Mord-Sith were on watch nearby and started back when they saw the witch woman returning.

“So, what did you mean when you said that we have to make the dead talk to us?” Kahlan asked impatiently. “Did you discover what we need to do?”

Even though it was dark, the low fire gave enough light to reveal the troubled expression on Red’s face. She looked drawn and tired. She had been gone the entire afternoon and then for hours after the sun had set. Kahlan had worried that she might never return.

“Not you,” the witch woman said to Kahlan as she came to a stop before Nicci. “You.”

“Me?” Nicci asked. She quickly recovered from the surprise. “All right, if it will help us get Richard back. What is it I need to do?”

Red slowly paced off partway toward the stream, still deep in thought, as if trying to think of a way to explain it.

“This is not something that can be accomplished easily, if at all,” the witch woman said without turning back. “We are seeking to bring a soul back from the world of the dead. In order to do such a thing, we are going to need a great deal of help. It’s not something that can be accomplished without the help of others.”

“What others?” Nicci asked.

“Dead, others,” Red told them, still gazing off into the distance.

Nicci took a deep breath. “I don’t understand. How can the dead help us?”

“Do you mean we need the help of the good spirits?” Kahlan guessed.

Red turned back and looked at her for a moment before speaking. “Richard is lost in the world of the dead, the spirit world. In order to help him, before anyone can help him, he first must be found in that eternity of darkness. That’s a very specialized task. In order to find him, we first need a spiritist.”

“A spiritist?” Nicci asked in a suddenly displeased tone.

“Yes. The flow of time does not ordinarily reveal what is sought, but this time I was able to catch a glimpse of factors surrounding potential events. Sometimes the flow is strong and rich in detail, which tells me that it is fixed and a near certainty. The flow I saw of you ending Richard’s life after the Mother Confessor had been murdered was that way. It was obscured where Richard was concerned, but I knew what was going to happen with you two.

“The flow I saw this time was only a slender thread, and I was only able to get a fleeting glimpse of it. That indicates there is only a remote chance that events will take this course. Time moves like a river, taking the easiest course. Ordinarily such slender threads are backwaters in time and are to be ignored, since the chances of them cutting a new path for the river in time are so unlikely. The thread exists only to reveal the richness of possibilities, not the probability.

“It is the allowance made for free choice to balance prophecy.

“For it to come about requires a series of events to come about in precise fashion. To help such a thread to strengthen, Richard must first be found. The only one who can do that is a spiritist.”

Kahlan looked back and forth between the two women. “What’s a spiritist?”

Nicci glanced over at Kahlan. “A gifted woman who can travel the darkness of the spirit world and seek specific spirits. She is gifted with the talent to find and then talk to spirits.”

“You mean she communes with the dead,” Kahlan said.

“That’s the heart of the matter,” Nicci admitted.

Kahlan shrugged. “All right. Where do we find one of these spiritists?”

“I’m afraid you can’t,” Nicci said. “There are none living anymore.”

Kahlan looked back at Red, reflections of the firelight flickering in her knowing eyes. “How can we use a spiritist if they are all dead?”

“I told you. You must talk with the dead.”

“You’re talking in circles,” Kahlan said, her temper heating. “How do we talk to the dead if we need a spiritist to do that, and they are all dead?”

Red tipped her head toward Nicci. “She is the only one who can do such a thing.”

Kahlan’s gaze went to Nicci. The sorceress was frowning.

“What are you getting at?” Nicci asked. “I’m not a spiritist.”

“You were a Sister of the Dark.”

Nicci’s frown tightened. “So?”

Red admonished her with a look. “What is it Sisters of the Dark deal in? They deal in the world of the dead. They worked for the forces of the underworld. They sought to bring the Keeper himself into this world.”

Nicci backed up a step. “I’m not that person anymore. I’m no longer a Sister of the Dark.”

Red flicked a hand in irritation. “All but you are dead. That’s because all but you chose to stay to that dark path, and it cost them their lives. You chose otherwise because Richard showed you another path. Now, you must use what you know in order to help find his path back. You still have those same abilities. Doing such things is the use of your abilities for the right reasons.”

“What abilities?” Kahlan asked suspiciously.

“A sorceress can’t delve into things in the underworld the way a skilled wizard can.” Red tipped her head toward Nicci without looking at her. “That is why Nicci, like all Sisters of the Dark, killed a wizard and stole his gift to use in dark devotion to the Keeper. Sisters of the Dark possessing the ability of a wizard can make contact with those in the underworld. Like all such Sisters, the Keeper once visited her in her dreams and granted her access to the darkness.”

Red’s eyes finally turned to Nicci. “Isn’t that right?”

The fire crackled as the two women stared at each other for a long moment.

“What does this have to do with finding a spiritist?” Nicci finally asked in a dangerous tone.

“You wanted to know how to bring Richard back,” the witch woman said in a quiet voice that was no less dangerous. “I’m telling you what that thread in the flow of time reveals. I’m not saying it can be done. I’m only telling you that if it is to be done, if Richard is to be found, you must do what only you can do.

“We need the help of the good spirits to rescue him and help put him on the path of the Grace so he may return, but first, before anything else can be done, he must be located in that eternity of darkness. The demons of the dark have their wings wrapped around his soul, hiding him.” She looked right at Kahlan. “Isn’t that right, Mother Confessor?”

Kahlan swallowed at the memory. “I’m afraid it is.”

“If you want to find him to have a chance to bring him back,” Red told Nicci, “then you must first contact a spiritist in the underworld and seek her help.”

Nicci heaved a sigh. “All right. Let’s just say for a moment that I can find a way to do such a thing. What is her name?”

“The one you need is named Naja.”

“Naja!” Kahlan said in surprise. “Naja Moon?”

Red nodded.

Kahlan rested her left palm on the hilt of the sword–Richard’s sword. “That’s the woman Richard said left messages in the shielded caves in the village of Stroyza. That’s where he found this ring. Naja knew Magda Searus and the wizard Merritt.”

The witch woman nodded. “That is the one I saw in the flow of time.” She let out a deep breath. “The problem is, she was a powerful sorceress. She, in fact, once helped Emperor Sulachan with his evil schemes, but it was under threat of death and she eventually escaped. She came to the New World to help in the fight to defeat Emperor Sulachan. She understood the things he was doing, and was a great help to those in the New World.”

“So why is that a problem?” Kahlan asked. “Nicci has to somehow contact Naja Moon, in the underworld, right? Naja knows how to find Richard?”

“Yes, she could do such a thing,” Nicci said in Red’s place. “The problem is, spirits of such power are difficult to find.”

“It’s worse than that,” Red explained. “Sulachan traveled the underworld. Naja had turned against him and he would have wanted revenge for that betrayal. Men like Sulachan carry grudges beyond the grave. Naja would have wished to have eternal peace and would have hidden her spirit.”

“I can understand that,” Nicci said. “I would not want to be found in the underworld by a wizard of Sulachan’s power.”

Kahlan wiped a weary hand across her eyes. “Can you find her or not?” she asked Nicci, her impatience lending an edge to her voice.

“Maybe, but only if I had the help of a lesser sorceress, a lesser spiritist,” Nicci finally admitted. “One less tangled in Sulachan’s affairs and the world of the dead. One who understood how to ride the rim between life and death.”

“Isidore,” the witch woman said with a nod. “Her name is Isidore. She is the one you want.”

Nicci’s frown deepened. “You saw that in the flow?”

“She, too, lived in the same time and also knew Magda. She was a talented spiritist. The flow of time tells me that Isidore was once involved in the same struggle and so, with such links, she would be the one who would be able to find Naja in the darkness.”

Nicci sighed. “The only problem is I’m not sure I can do such a thing–open myself to the underworld and contact spirits.”

Red was watching her. “You mean you are not sure that you want to do such a thing.”

Nicci didn’t answer.

Kahlan gripped Nicci’s arm. “This is for Richard. You told me you would do anything.”

Nicci swallowed. “I know. But this is…”

“What? This is what? Not something worth doing for Richard? Is that what you’re saying? That it isn’t something you want to do for him?”

Nicci shook her head. “No–that’s not what I’m saying. It’s just that … you don’t know what it means.”

Kahlan thought she might know what it meant. It meant that Nicci had to return to her own inner darkness, to that time when she was a Sister of the Dark, a place from which Richard had brought her back.

“That is only the beginning,” the witch woman said in a quiet voice. “Finding the first spiritist to find the second so that they can locate Richard is only the beginning of what must be done. Once he is found, then he will need to be pulled away from the dark ones. Even Naja, though she may be able to find him, does not have the power to do such a thing.”

Kahlan’s frustration was welling up at the ever-increasing complications. “Then who does?”

Red flicked a hand without answering the question. “First things first. Before we can hope to accomplish the other things that must be done, the one called Isidore must be located, and then she must find Naja so that she can then travel the darkness and find where the demons of the dark are hiding Richard. There is only a slim hope that we can accomplish even that much. It is too soon to worry about what must be done once he is found. I still need to look deeper into the flow of time for answers to such questions.”

Kahlan turned to Nicci. “Then let’s get started. Let’s not waste any more time.”

With a hand on her forearm, Red sought to slow Kahlan down. “In order for Nicci to do that, we must first get back to where you are keeping Richard’s body.”

“You’re coming back with us?”

Red’s features were tense and solemn. “If we do not succeed in bringing Richard back, there is no hope of stopping Sulachan. If he and Hannis Arc are not stopped we are all going to die.

“If there is a way for me to help with this thread of hope, then I can’t let the chance go by without offering what advice I can provide. I may be able to give you an idea of the choices that will have to be made.”

Kahlan nodded. “Thank you. Your help would be greatly appreciated.”

“You must know one other thing.” The witch woman paused and shared a look between Nicci and Kahlan. “If he returns, it will be because someone will forfeit their life for him. Someone will willingly trade their life for his. Someone who loves him.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Nicci said under her breath.

Nicci had already shown her apprehension at taking up her dark craft one last time in a desperate attempt to contact spirits in the underworld. Kahlan knew that such an attempt would be profoundly dangerous.

“That isn’t fair,” Kahlan said in frustration. “We can’t selfishly ask someone else to die so that Richard might live.”

Red shook her head. “No. Not so that Richard might live, but so that everyone else might live. It is the balance that must be kept, much like the balance of the one man I let live for all the ones I killed. On the surface it may not seem equal, but it served the need for balance.

“The worlds of life and death seek balance. In this case, for all the lives that will be saved, one will be forfeit.”

Kahlan desperately wanted Richard back. But she didn’t want someone to have to take his place.

“Find a place to get some sleep,” Red told them. “We leave for the citadel at first light.” She looked over at the Mord-Sith. “No need for you to stand watch. You are all safe here tonight.”