Witch's Oath

18

Richard brought Kahlan and the five Mord-Sith to a halt. Before any of them could speak, he crossed his lips with a finger.

“If you must speak, do it quietly.”

Kahlan glanced over at the wall. “Michec is on the other side?”

“Yes.”

“Then what are we doing here?” Kahlan asked. “Shouldn’t we be over there if we hope to catch him? How do you hope to get him from here?”

Richard smiled. “Wait. You’ll see. And remember, don’t try to use your power on him. Get your knife out. I doubt you will get the chance to stab him just yet, but you need to be ready in case.”

He turned to the stone wall separating the passageway they were in from its twin where the witch man lurked, waiting to capture them. He looked to the right, to the stone pillar not far away, and then to the one to the left, to judge his relative place between them.

“What are you looking for?” Kahlan asked as she watched.

“I don’t have time to explain it. Just watch.”

Once he was sure he was in the correct spot, as the six women watched, Richard put his fingertips lightly against the wall and slid them over the stone, looking for the right place. When he found the joint between the stone blocks he was looking for, a joint deeper than the others, he followed it to a similarly deep vertical joint and then went to one knee as he followed that one down. In the silence as the others watched him, he traced all the joints at that area of the wall, making sure they were the ones he needed, and being certain of their layout.

Once he was sure he had found the right place and he was sure of the arrangement of the individual blocks, he turned to the women watching him. “As soon as Shale does what I told her, we’re going to go through here and try to catch Michec off guard.”

Berdine’s nose wrinkled in disbelief. “How are we going to get through a solid stone wall?”

Instead of wasting time answering, Richard took hold of Nyda’s arm and pulled her closer to the wall. He squatted down, drawing her down with him. He looked into her blue eyes to make sure she was paying attention. When he was sure she was, he traced a stone block about knee height, showing it to her. It was square, each side about as long as his forearm.

“When I tell you, I want you to side-kick this stone block.”

She looked at him with a wary expression. “And what am I to do once I break my ankle?”

Richard shook his head. “Don’t worry. I’m going to fracture key places in the wall first to weaken everything. It’s beveled to balance where it is, so when the rest of the wall comes apart and you kick it, it will be enough to tip it and cause it to give way. It won’t take a great deal of force, so you don’t have to worry about hurting yourself.

“This block is a critical structural element, but I can’t take care of all the right places by myself. I’m going to need you to take care of this one. Once I fracture the wall, freeing it from the stone above, and then you kick it, that block will tip and will fall through and the rest of the wall will come falling down.”

He looked at her and then the others to make sure they were all paying attention. They were all more than merely paying attention. They were mystified.

“All of you, be sure to stay clear and get back—especially you, Nyda—once the stone blocks start collapsing. I know the wall is going to come down, but I don’t know where all the stone blocks will fall. Many of them are heavy and could severely injure or even kill you if they fall on you. We can’t risk that, so be sure to stay clear.”

As they were all trying to comprehend what he told them, Richard drew his sword. He tried to draw it slowly enough that it wouldn’t make a sound Michec could hear. Still, the unique, high-pitched ringing sound the blade made coming out was almost painful as the magic answered his call. Richard winced as the sound reverberated through the hall, hoping it wasn’t so loud that it could be heard on the other side of the stone wall.

Once the sound died out Richard put his ear close and listened for anything from Michec. When he heard nothing but silence, he placed the point of the blade at a key joint low on the wall, and then he waited, listening for the right time.

Kahlan leaned in, unable to stand the tension any longer. “Richard,” she whispered, “what are we waiting for?”

He lifted a finger for her to wait as he heard Shale’s footsteps in the distance as she came running.

As soon as he heard Michec scream over on the other side of the wall, he said, “That.”

Gritting his teeth with the effort, Richard put all his weight against both hands on the hilt and shoved the sword through the low joint between two of the stones. The stone grated against the blade as it slid in. Once it was through, with all his might he pulled the sword upward. Stone popped and shattered, sending small bits flying. After he had cut as far as needed, he pulled the blade back out of the joint.

He could hear Michec, on the other side of the wall, curse and yell. Between angry curses, he let out short screams. As the witch man was struggling with whatever Shale had thought into existence and set upon him, Richard used the hilt of the sword to tap the stone blocks. As soon as he heard a hollow sound that confirmed the loss of integrity, he sheathed the sword.

He looked at Nyda. “Wait until I hit the wall and then kick that stone.”

Nyda gave him a single nod. Richard took a step back and, hoping he was right, threw himself at the wall, grunting with mighty effort. As soon as his shoulder hit the stone with his full weight behind it, he could feel the blocks under his shoulder give. Joints popped and shattered as blocks began to tip. As stone started coming apart, he looked back at Nyda.

“Now!”

Nyda threw a swift kick at the stone block he had shown her.

With a cracking sound the stone gave way as if it had no strength at all. Nyda leaped back out of the way. As the wall caved in, Richard almost fell in with it. He regained his balance and jumped back just in time as blocks of stone and broken chunks of rock came crashing down with a rumbling sound. A great cloud of dust billowed up. All of them coughed out dust.

As soon as enough of the stones had collapsed, Richard dove through, toppling a few blocks out of his way to make the opening larger. Some of the stone blocks crashed down to the sides while several others tumbled in ahead of him. He could sense the Mord-Sith charging through right after him. Even as he was going through, more stones, having lost their support, toppled over. Some of the big blocks of stone hit the floor and shattered, sending fragments sliding underfoot.

Richard charged through the rolling clouds of dust. As he emerged on the other side, he spotted Michec. The man looked shocked by the wall collapsing right next to him, and even more so by Richard and the Mord-Sith suddenly storming in at him.

But the shock of seeing them was only secondary to the witch man’s plight. What had him in a real panic was the cloud of angry wasps swarming around his face. He was frantically swinging his arms, swatting at them, and trying to swipe dozens of them off his face as they were stinging him. His face was already a mass of angry red welts. His eyes were nearly swollen shut.

Shale and Kahlan came through the dust cloud, both with knives at the ready. With the wasps swarming around his head, Michec took in all the people coming for him with knives.

He immediately turned and raced away, swatting at the wasps as he ran. Richard heard him laugh even as the wasps were stinging his face. Richard knew why the man was laughing. It was the reason he had been waiting in this particular trap of a dead end that delighted him.

Instead of going after Michec, Richard grabbed Kahlan’s arm and tossed her behind him, in the direction Michec had run.

“Something very bad is about to happen,” he said as he turned to her. “Go. All of you. Go.”

“What’s about to happen?” Shale demanded.

“Go! I need you all out of the way!”

All of a sudden, a sound Richard had heard too many times before filled the passageway behind him.

Glee shrieked with rage as they came racing out from far off down around the spiraled end of the trap. Hundreds of them filled the corridor. Their screams echoed off the stone walls. Steam rising from their wet bodies rolled along the ceiling.

He knew that the Glee, with their long, muscular legs, could outrun them and would love nothing more than to run down their prey. Running would be the death of them.