Wasteland

11

In the hush as time returned to normal, those with Richard slowly tried to gather their senses. The ones still conscious held their heads, groaning in pain from the pressure he had created both in the compression of the air, and in its explosive expansion.

Richard alone stood unaffected, gazing first for a time at the ashen remains of the Glee and the soldiers, then around at everyone else.

Rikka and Cassia looked to be unconscious. Nyda, Vale, and Berdine were just sitting up, holding their heads and taking deep breaths. Shale put a knee to the floor as she steadied herself before trying to stand.

Richard bent to help Kahlan get up. Like everyone else, she looked stunned. As consciousness gradually returned, she blinked, trying to collect her wits. He lifted her to her feet. Still trying to get her balance, she leaned against him for support.

“Richard,” she managed as she winced, panting to catch her breath, her hands grabbing hold of his arms, “what … what just happened? I thought we were all dead. How can we be alive? What did you do?”

“Not the kind of thing I would want to do outside a containment field, but I had no choice.”

“Where are we?” Rikka asked, sounding groggy and only half awake.

“It’s all right,” Richard said as he grabbed her hand when she lifted it and then helped pull her to her knees.

Shale, still on her knees, gestured. “You destroyed them all.” She squinted at the mass of black ash not far away. “You destroyed them all?”

She seemed confused. People down on the main floor who had also been knocked from their feet were groaning as they began to get back up. Being farther away, they didn’t feel it with the same severity, but they were still affected by what had happened. Such an event expanded for quite some distance beyond the lethal radius.

When Richard looked up, he saw that across the vast corridor, on the balcony that mirrored theirs, a lone Glee stood motionless, claws at its sides, watching.

Richard stared across at it. The lone Glee stared back. For a long moment, they just stared at each other. It didn’t try to come closer, or for that matter, do anything. It appeared that it was simply observing.

And then, as the tall black creature and Richard stood gazing at each other, it dissolved back into its own world.

Richard couldn’t begin to imagine what that had been about.

*

Kahlan looked around and saw everyone finally getting to their feet. With their hands, they felt their chests, checking themselves over, expecting to find injuries, but there were no injuries to find. Back down the corridor behind them, the soldiers that had been rushing to their assistance were likewise all trying to regain their senses. Some had to steady themselves on a hand and a knee as they pulled themselves together. Some of the men helped others up.

Kahlan looked around, surprised to see that everyone was alive. The Mord-Sith appeared unhurt. Edward Harris leaned back against the short wall a moment, catching his breath. The remaining soldier of the three shook his head, as if clearing the cobwebs.

Kahlan’s thoughts seemed to tumble in fragments as she tried to piece together what had just happened. She had seen the mass of Glee materialize, and she had known they were all going to die.

It almost felt as if time itself skipped a beat, then something violent happened. It felt to her like it had been a dream. For a moment she couldn’t breathe, as if the wind had been knocked out of her, then she remembered suddenly gasping in a breath and feeling life return to her only to lose consciousness.

In a way, there were elements of what had just happened that reminded her of when she released her power. But this time, she knew that it was quite different, and that somehow, in some way, Richard had just used his gift to save them all.

One instant they had been about to die, then the next instant, it seemed, she was waking up on the floor. Down the corridor she could see that the Glee were no more. There was only the greasy ash remains similar to what she had seen in the containment field in the library. She knew without a doubt that these Glee had not had the chance to return to their own world.

She finally hugged Richard, laying her head against his shoulder. “You saved us, Richard. You saved us all. I don’t know exactly what just happened, or how you did it, but you saved us.”

Richard, staring off at the ashen remains of the soldiers who had died with the Glee, nodded.

“Sometimes,” he said in a soft, intimate voice, “I wish I didn’t have such ability and everyone else wasn’t depending on me to protect them. Sometimes I wish I didn’t know the things I know or couldn’t do the terrible things I can do.

“Sometimes,” he said, staring off at nothing, “I wish I was just like everyone else.”

“But you’re not, Richard. You’re not. Remember what I’ve always told you? You can be no more than who you are, and no less.” She put a hand to the side of his handsome face. “Remember?”

He smiled a little as he nodded.

“I know what you mean, though. Growing up I often wished I hadn’t been born a Confessor, that I was just like everyone else, that I was simply a normal girl. I’ve had to do terrible things with my ability. I’ve had to unleash my power against people I wish I hadn’t needed to kill. So I understand what you’re feeling. But with me, I’ve had a lifetime to come to terms with it. You will, too.”

Richard touched the side of her face, gazing into her eyes. “I know.”

He sighed as he seemed to remember himself again and all the others. “Berdine? Are you all right?”

Berdine, bending to retrieve her Agiel, grinned at him. “I knew you would save us, Lord Rahl. I wasn’t worried at all.”

“Well, I was worried enough for all of you,” Shale said. “If you had any sense, you would have been scared witless.”

“If it’s any consolation,” Cassia said with a smile, “I was just a little bit worried.”

Shale harrumphed. She came closer and peered up at Richard, as if seeing him in a new light. “Lord Rahl, someday when we have the time, I would like very much for you to explain to me precisely what you just did.”

Richard, one arm still around Kahlan, holding her close, shrugged. “It was just some simple calculations.”

“Uh-huh.” She cast a critical look over at the greasy, black, ashen remains. “Simple calculations. Yes, of course. I can see that.” She planted a fist on her hip. “Then how is it that you can turn a raging mob of monsters to ash, and yet you can’t seem to light a lamp with your gift?”

Richard shrugged. “The lamp isn’t trying to kill us all.”

He turned to the soldier still with them. “When those men down there gather their senses and get over here, they can help you take care of this.” He gestured around at the carnage still left all over the floor from the previous attack. The remains continued to leak blood and fluids in ever-growing pools. “I need to see to some urgent business.”

With a steely look, the man clapped a fist to his heart.

Richard gestured off at the destruction he had created. “I’m truly sorry about those men. They didn’t deserve to die. They especially didn’t deserve to die by my hand.”

The soldier glanced briefly at the ashen remains. “You had no choice, Lord Rahl. You just preserved any hope we have for all of us to survive, for all of us to have a future. These monsters want to hunt and kill us all. Grieve for those fallen men of the First File but know that they were doing what they believed in and what they chose to do.”

Richard gripped the man’s shoulder. “Thank you. You got some of them, too. You did good, too.” He gestured to the remains of the two who had fought off the Glee when Mr. Burkett had been fleeing. “You and your two brothers-in-arms.”

The soldier nodded his appreciation.

“Mr. Harris,” Richard said, as he took Harris’s arm and helped pull him the rest of the way upright, “take us to the place with the maps of the palace you told us about.”

“At once, Lord Rahl.” He hesitated. “And thank you, Lord Rahl, for before.” He pointed over the side. “For catching me.”

“‘Master Rahl protect us,’” Richard quoted from the devotion. “Just doing my job. Now let’s go.”