Rachel clutched her doll tighter to her chest and stared at the dark thing watching her from the bushes. At least she thought it was watching her. It was hard to tell because the eyes were as dark 72 страница

Verna was struck speechless.

Dear Creator, I like this woman so. Please give me the strength to break her. Nathan had added his snowflake, she had to add hers.

'I have been sent on a twenty-year chase, without knowing the reason, I have been deceived, my two companions died, one at my hand, I have been forbidden use of my power to do my job...'

'Do you think I forbid your use of your power capriciously? Is that what's bothering you, Verna? Very well then, if you must know the reason, it was to save your life.'

Verna stiffened in caution. 'If I remember my lessons in the vaults, there is only one reason such restriction would save my life.'

Inwardly, Ann smiled. Verna wanted it spoken aloud. 'Indeed. Richard has Subtractive Magic.'

'You knew that? You had one with Subtractive Magic collared? You would risk that? You would have him brought here, to the palace?' Her hands unfolded and she leaned in a bit. 'Why?'

Ann held the other's gaze. 'Because there are Sisters of the Dark in the palace.'

She didn't twitch. She knew. At least, she suspected. Bless you, Verna, you are a bright one. Forgive me for what I must do.

'Is this room shielded?' Verna asked in an even tone.

'Of course.' She left unsaid that her shield would not protect against these Sisters.

'Do you have proof of such an accusation, Prelate?'

'I do not need proof, right now, because this conversation is restricted. You will not speak of it. Unless you plan to bring charges. If you do, I of course will deny it, and say a bitter Sister was trying to accuse the Prelate of blasphemy for personal gain. And then we would have to hang you. Neither of us wants that, now do we?'

Verna sat stiff and still. 'No, Prelate. But what does that have to do with bringing Richard here?'

'When your house is overrun with rats, the only thing you can do is bring in a cat.'

This cat sees us all as rats. Maybe with good reason. Some might say that perhaps you were not bringing in a cat for your rats, but bait. Richard is a good person. I would not like to think he is being sacrificed.'

'Do you know why you were selected to go after Richard?'

'I had thought it was your vote of confidence.'

Ann shrugged. 'In a way, it was. Although I'm not sure that there are Sisters of the Dark in the palace, and I have no idea who they are if it's true, I had to assume that if it is true, then since Grace and Elizabeth were at the top of the list, they would be Sisters of the Dark. I knew from prophecy, that only my eyes have seen, that Richard probably has Sub-tractive Magic, and further, that he would refuse the first two offers. I knew the first two sisters would die.

'If the Nameless One's disciples knew any of this, they would want the third name on the list to be one of theirs, too. I used my prerogative as Prelate to pick the third Sister.'

'You chose me, because you had faith that I was not one of them?'

What Ann wanted to say was I have known you since you were a child, Verna. I know your quick mind, your heart, and your soul. You, of all the Sisters, were the one I trusted with the fate of the world. I knew Richard would be safe in your hands.

But she could not say that.

'I chose you, Verna, because you were far down on the list, and because, all in all, you are quite unremarkable.'

The room rang with silence for a long moment. Verna swallowed. 'I see.'

Ann affected dispassionate objectivity. Inside, her heart was breaking.

'I doubted you were one of them. You are a person of little note. I'm sure Grace and Elizabeth made their way to the top of the list because whoever directs the Sisters of the Dark considered them expendable. I direct the Sisters of the Light. I chose you for the same reason.

'There are Sisters who are valuable to our cause; I could not risk one of them on such a task. The boy may prove a value to us, but he is not as important as other matters at the palace. He may be a help. It was simply an opportunity I thought to take.

'If there had been trouble, and none of you made it back, well, I'm sure you can understand that a general would not want to lose his best troops on a low-priority mission.'

Verna's breathing looked forced. Her voice sounded it. 'Of course, Prelate Annalina.'

Ann shuffled her papers impatiently. 'I have important matters to get back to. Is there anything else, Sister?'

'No, Prelate.'

When the door closed, Ann lowered her face into her shaking hands. Tears dripped onto her papers.

----------

She appraised his eyes for a long moment. Richard didn't know if she would say yes or not, but he had had to tell her much of what he had learned just to get her to agree to listen to his plea. He couldn't afford to fail. He needed help. He had to trust someone.

'All right, Richard. I will help you. If half of what you say is true, I must help you.'

Richard sighed as he closed his eyes in relief. Thank you, Liliana. I'll never forget you for this. You're the only one around here who will listen to reason. Can we do it now? Time is critical.'

'Now?' she whispered harshly. 'Here? Richard, if what you say about you having Subtractive Magic is true, it won't be a simple matter to remove your Rada'Han. I will need to retrieve an object of magic that the Sisters keep guarded. It's an aid, used to amplify power. Maybe through that, and with your help, it will be enough to get the collar off.

'Not only that, but if the Nameless One is involved, there is no telling what ears, or Han, might be paying attention.'

Then, when? Where? It has to be soon.'

She wiped her fingers over her eyes as she considered. 'Well, I think I can retrieve the object before tonight, so we could try tonight. But where? It can't be in the palace. It would be too dangerous.'

The Hagen Woods,' Richard said. 'Everyone avoids the Hagen Woods.'

Liliana looked up. 'Richard, you can't be serious. It's dangerous there.'

'Not for me. I already told you how I can tell if the mriswith are coming. We'll be safe enough, and we won't have to worry about any Sisters, or Pasha, stumbling by while we're trying to get this cursed thing off my neck.'

She let out a frustrated breath. At last she laid a hand on his shoulder and, giving it a squeeze, smiled. 'All right. The Hagen Woods, then.'

With a stern look, she gripped his shoulder and held him out at arm's length. 'I'm violating a whole stack of rules by doing this. I know it's important, and the right thing to do, but if they catch us before we can do it, they will make sure I never get near enough to you to ever again try.'

'I'm ready now, let's go.'

'No. I must try to retrieve the aid first.' She cocked her head to the side as she frowned. 'And I just thought of something else. They keep telling you not to let the sun set on you there. Why?'

Richard shrugged. 'Because it's dangerous.'

'And after everything you've learned, you believe them? You trust them? Richard, what if they don't want you to let the sun set on you there because you might learn something useful? You said the Hagen Woods were placed there by the wizards of old who had Subtractive Magic, in order to help those like you. What if the Sisters don't want you to have that help? What if they are just trying to make you afraid, so you won't discover it?'

Wizard's First Rule. Were they deceiving him? Was he believing a lie? 'You may be right. We'll go before sunset.'

'No. We don't want to be seen together. And it will take me some time to steal the aid. Do you know where the long, split rock sits in the stream to southwest corner of the Hagen Woods?'

'I know the place.'

'Good. You get there before the sun sets; you are the one the magic is for. Go in the woods by the split rock. Tie strips of cloth to branches so I can follow where you went, and find you. I'll meet you there, in the woods, when the moon is two hands in the sky. And Richard, don't you dare tell anyone about this, or you will be risking not only my life and yours, but Kahlan's too.'

Richard nodded with a smile of thanks. 'On my word. Tonight, then.'

He paced his room after she left. He was anxious to get this over with, and be off. He was running out of time. If Darken Rahl had the skrin bone, they were already out of time. But that was just foolish. How would he get it? He was a spirit. Maybe it was as Warren said, that the elements were rarely all in place.

It was Kahlan he was worried about. He had to help her.

A knock brought him out of his thoughts. He thought it might be Liliana come back, but when he opened the door, a distraught Perry pushed into the room.

'Richard! I need your help.' He pulled out a fistful of robes. 'Look at this! They promoted me!'

Richard glanced down the length of the simple, brown robes. 'Congratulations. That's great, Perry.'

'It's a disaster! Richard, I need your help!'

Richard frowned. 'Why is it a disaster?'

Perry threw his arms in the air, as if it should be obvious to anyone. 'Because I can't go into the city! I'm restricted in these robes! I'm not allowed to go over the bridge!'

'Well, I'm sorry, Perry, but I don't see how I can help you.'

Perry took a deep breath to calm himself. He looked up pleadingly. 'There's a woman in the city... I've been seeing her steady of late. Richard, I really like her. I'm supposed to meet her tonight. If I don't show up, so I can explain, if I never show up again, she'll think I don't care about her.'

'Perry, I still don't see what I can do about it.'

Perry grabbed him by his shirt. 'They took all my clothes. Richard, you could lend me some of yours. Then no one would recognize me, and I could sneak into the city, and see her. Please, Richard, lend me some of your clothes?'

Richard thought a moment. He didn't care if he was violating some obscure rule of the palace, it seemed insignificant compared to what he was doing, but he still worried for Perry.

'The guards all know me. They will see it's you in my clothes and tell the Sisters. Then you'll be in for trouble.'

Perry glanced away, frantically thinking. 'Night. I'll wait until night, and then I'll go. They won't see so clearly who it really is at night. Please, Richard? Please?'

Richard sighed. 'It's fine by me, Perry, if you want to risk it. Just don't get yourself caught. I'd hate to know I helped get you in trouble.' He gestured to the bedroom, where the wardrobe was. 'Come on. Take whatever you like. You aren't quite my size, but I guess you're close enough.'

Perry added a grin to his sidelong look. 'The red coat? I can have the red coat? She'd like me in that.'

'Sure.' Richard led a giddy Perry toward the bedroom. 'If that is what you would like, take it. I'm glad someone will enjoy wearing the red coat.'

Perry sorted through the wardrobe, looking for a pair of pants and a shirt he thought would look dashing.

'I saw Sister Liliana leaving your room, just before I came.' He pulled out a ruffled, white shirt. 'She one of your teachers?'

'Yes. I like her. She's the nicest of the lot.'

Perry held up the shirt in front of himself. 'How does this look on me?'

'Better than on me. You know Liliana?'

'Not really. She just always gave me the shivers. Those strange eyes of hers.'

Richard thought about Liliana's pale, pale blue eyes shot through with violet flecks. He shrugged. 'I thought they were strange, too, at first. But she's so bubbly and friendly that I don't even notice them anymore. She has such a warm smile that it's hard to see anything else.'

----------

She considered the captain standing before her desk. He was asking an outrageous price. But then, what was the Palace's gold to her? Before it was missed, she would be gone.

As she had feared, the boy was proving troublesome to tame. It was becoming important to cultivate other options. There were other ways of seeing to the Keeper's wishes, other ways of keeping her oath.

'I agree to your price. In fact, I double it, just to insure your loyalty.'

She pushed the purse across the desk. Captain Blake licked his cracked lips as he watched it moving closer. He finally reached out and took it, testing its weight before tucking it in his coat.

'Very generous of you, Sister. You're a woman who knows how to win a man's loyalty.'

'You are not going to count it, Captain?'

His cold eyes weren't touched by his servile smile. 'Aye, Sister, I'll be counting it when I get back to the Lady Sefa. When do you wish to sail?'

There were still a few matters, a few loose ends, to attend to. 'Soon. I have paid you more than enough to have you at the ready, until I'm ready.'

Aye, Sister, you have at that.' He scratched his scruffy chin. 'I'm content to sit. I'm in no great hurry to be sailing to where you want to go.'

She leaned forward. 'You are sure you can make the voyage.'

'Aye, Sister. The Lady Sefa has made the voyage before, and can again. Still, I've no itch to be off into those waters until I have to.' He straightened his tattered coat. 'How many ladies will you be bringing?' An apologetic smile spread easily on his weathered face. 'I'll need to see to the proper accommodations.'

Sitting back, she again ground her teeth at the memory of Liliana pulling off her hood at the joining rite. Liliana had let every other Sister know her identity by doing that. Worse, she had been warned. It was more than a mistake; it was arrogance. Liliana was proving dangerously untrustworthy. With the power she was appropriating, there was no telling what she would do next. There was certainly no reason to take Liliana.

As for the others, why take them all? The Prelate had made a mistake by speaking her suspicions aloud, thinking a shield of Additive Magic would protect her. The Prelate would have cause to suspect six of the Sisters, but if the Prelate were to die, there would be no reason for anyone, even Liliana, to suspect the others. Why take them, when they might prove useful here?

She was liking this plan more by the moment. 'Myself and five others will be going.'

'Mind if I ask why you fine ladies want to be sailing out around the great barrier. Isn't the Old World to your liking?'

She leveled a menacing glare on the man standing before her. 'I have bought your ship, your crew, and you, for as long as I want them, and for whatever purpose I want them. Answering questions was not part of the bargain.'

'No, Sister. I just thought -'

'Your silence was.' Without taking her eyes from his, she flicked her wrist and brought a blade to hand. 'I have always thought death too brief a lesson. I believe in long lessons. If I so much as suspect you have violated your part of the bargain, any part of it, they will find you still breathing, but without an inch of skin left anywhere on you. Do we understand each other?'

Captain Blake stared furiously at the blue and yellow carpet beneath his feet. 'Aye, Sister.'

Then that will be all, Captain. I will be seeing you spon. Be ready to sail the instant you see six Sisters coming.'

After he had gone, she pulled a spare dacra from a drawer and, resting an elbow on the desk, watched it spinning in her fingers as she thought. She didn't like leaving matters to chance. Best if all the loose ends were taken care of.

Someone would have to eliminate Richard Rahl. Someone not going with them. She smiled. Someone expendable.

CHAPTER 65

Richard sat quietly with his legs folded and the sword across his knees. He wore his mriswith cape so that Pasha and Sister Verna wouldn't know where he was. He didn't want either to know the sun had set on him in the Hagen Woods. Either would surely come after him if they knew what he was doing.

He had found a small clearing, high enough to be dry, and had waited there since the sun had gone down. He could see the full moon through the tight tangle of branches, and judged it about two hands high. He didn't know what was supposed to happen in the Hagen Woods when the sun set on you there, but so far it seemed as it always had when he had been there before at night.

He returned Liliana's call, and she came out from behind a fat oak. She looked about at the woods. It wasn't a tentative glance, but a confident appraisal.

She sat before him, crossing her legs. 'I got it. The aid I told you about.'

Richard smiled in relief. 'Thanks, Liliana.'

She pulled it from her cloak. In the moonlight, he could see it was a small statue of a man holding something clear as glass. She held it up, showing it to him.

'What is it?'

'The crystal, this clear part here, has the power to amplify the gift. I don't have the power to get your Rada'Han off, if it is true that you have Subtractive Magic, because I have only Additive. You will hold this in your lap. When we join our minds this will help amplify your power, so I can use it, and be able to break the hold.'

'Good. Let's begin.'

She pulled the statue back. 'Not until I tell you the rest.'

He looked into her pale, pale blue eyes, at the dark flecks spread through them. 'So tell me.'

'The reason you can't help get the collar off is because you don't have the training to use your gift. You don't know how to direct the power. This will overcome that deficiency. I hope.'

'You're trying to work up to warning me about something.'

She gave a single nod. 'You don't know how to control the flow, so you be will at the mercy of the aid. But the aid doesn't understand pain. It simply does what it must. What I need.'

'So you're telling me it might hurt. I'm prepared to endure pain. Let's get started.'

'Not "might."' She held up a cautionary finger. 'Richard, this is dangerous. It will hurt you. It will feel like your mind is being torn apart. I know you want to do this, but I don't want to deceive you. This will make you think you are dying.'

He felt a trickle of sweat run down his neck.

'It must be done.'

'I will be directing my Han to try to break the hold of the collar. The aid will be pulling power from you, to do as I need to overcome the Rada'Han. It will hurt you.'

'Liliana, I can take whatever is necessary. It must be done.'

'You listen to me, Richard. I know you want to do this, but you listen. I will be pulling the gift from you, to help break the collar. Your mind will feel like I'm trying to pull the very life from you. Your inner mind may interpret that as me trying to suck the gift, the very life, from you.

'You will have to endure the feeling of having your life ripped from you. You will have to endure it until the collar breaks. If you try to stop it when my power is in you, trying to do as I must...'

'So what you are saying is that if it's too much, and I want to stop, I can't. If I try to stop the pull on my magic, it will kill me.'

'Yes. You must not resist. If you do, you will die.' Her expression was as serious as he had ever seen it. 'You must trust me, and not try to stop what is happening to you, or you will die, and then Kahlan will die. Are you sure you can do that?'

'Liliana, I would do anything, endure anything, to save Kahlan. I trust you. I will put my life in your hands.'

She at last nodded and placed the statue in his lap. She gazed into his eyes a long moment, and then kissed her finger. She touched the kissed finger to his cheek.

'Into the void, then, together. Thank you for your trust, Richard. You will never know what this means to me.'

'Nor to me, Liliana. What do you want me to do?'

The same as we have always done before. You just try to touch your Han, as always, and I will do the rest.'

She wiggled forward until their knees were pressed together. They held hands, letting them rest over their knees. Each drew a deep breath, and closed their eyes.

At first, it was the same as it always was, just deep relaxation as he concentrated on the image of the Sword of Truth. The pain, at first, was simply an uncomfortable tingling. It spiraled deeper, settling at the base of his spine,.feeling like a pulled muscle. The pain worked its way up his back.

Abruptly, it erupted everywhere at once, something like the pain of the Agiel; a hot ache searing through the marrow of his bones. Denna had taught him to endure pain. He said a silent thank you to Denna, for what she had done. Maybe it would be what he needed to endure this, to save Kahlan.

The twisting torture took his breath. His back stiffened. Sweat instantly drenched his face. His lungs burned for air. With the greatest of effort, he drew a breath.

Shattering pain exploded through his mind, plunging him into a timeless place of ripping, unending agony. He struggled to hold the sword in his mind. Tears ran down his face. He had to do this.

It felt as if every nerve in his body were exposed and being held to a flame. He thought his eyes might burst. He thought his heart" might burst. He flinched with each agonizing tug of pain. It was torture beyond endurance.

And then it seemed as if what he had felt had not yet been the beginning of it. He was unable to scream, to breathe, to move. It seemed his very soul was being ripped from him.

As Liliana had warned him, it seemed as if his very life was being pulled from him. He felt a wash of panic that this was killing him. He felt dark death soaking into the void left by what was being ripped from him. He dimly worried that this wasn't right. Terror burgeoned deep within him, and then that too was pulled into the swirling torrent erupting outward.

He wanted nothing more than to scream, as if it would somehow ameliorate the agony. But he could not. His muscles seemed to be losing their life along with the rest of him. He could not breathe, or even hold his head up.

Please, Liliana, please hurry. Please.

He struggled not to resist what she was doing. He prayed that he would not fight her. He had to get to Kahlan. She needed him.

His eyes were open, he realized, when he recognized the statue in his lap. His head was hanging. The crystal was beginning to glow a dull orange. A dim part of him thought that that must mean it was working, doing its job. His head felt as if it were coming apart. He expected to see blood dripping down, but he saw only the orange glow increasing.

Please, Liliana, hurry.

Blackness was enveloping him. Even the insufferable pain was beginning to seem distant. He felt life slipping from his grasp. He felt an emptiness coming upon him that was more ghastly that anything he thought possible.

In the fading recesses of his mind, he felt a presence.

Mriswith.

He felt them near. His level of alarm rose. They were around him, closing in.

And then he heard, as if from a great distance, Liliana's voice. 'Wait, my pets. You may have what is left, when I am finished with him. Wait.'

He could dimly see the mriswith in his mind, as he always had when they came to him. When Liliana spoke, they moved back.

Why would she say that? Why would the mriswith move back at her command? What did she mean? Maybe the pain had driven him insane, and it was only a mad illusion.

He felt a presence at his back. Not a mriswith. Worse. More gruesome by ten. He felt its fetid breath on his neck.

Liliana's voice came in a dangerous hiss. 'I said wait.' The presence receded a bit, but not as far as the mriswith.

What did she mean, they could have what was left? He was dying, that was what she meant. He could feel it. He was dying.

No. Liliana said he would think that. It was simply happening as she had said, that was all. He had to be strong for Kahlan. But he had so little left to give. He was dying. He knew he was. The statue in his lap was glowing brighter.

The hot breath returned to his neck. He heard a low growl from the loathsome thing. He vehemently wanted it away from him.

Liliana's menacing voice came again. 'Wait. I will be finished in a moment, and then you may have his body. Wait.'

In that instant, something deep within him told him that if he was ever going to save himself, this was the last chance. It had to be now. The decision to act was sudden desperation.

From deep within, from the core of his mind, from the core of his being, from the core of his soul, he wrenched his will to action, and by force of will, with frantic, colossal effort, he yanked his power, his life - himself - back.

A thundering boom sounded, and an impact sundered the air, throwing the two of them apart. Richard landed on his back at one edge of the clearing, Liliana at the other. The Sword of Truth was in the center. The mriswith and the other creature melted back into the darkness among the trees.

Richard gasped for air. He sat up and shook his head. The statue lay on the ground in the center, near his sword. The orange glow was gone.

Liliana floated upward without effort. It looked as if an invisible hand had lifted her gently to her feet. The sight raised hackles on the back of his neck.

She smiled wickedly. Richard hadn't thought Liliana to be capable of such a vile grin. It made his toes curl in his boots.

'Oh, Richard, I was so close. I've never experienced anything like it. You have no idea of the glory of what you have. But I will have it yet.'

Richard glanced to the sides, trying to decide which way to run. He felt like a fool, and at the same time was overcome by a sense of profound loss. 'Liliana, I trusted you. I thought you cared for me.'

She lifted an eyebrow. 'Did you?' The slow smile returned. 'Maybe I did. Maybe that's why I was doing it the easy way. Now we do it the hard way.'

Richard blinked. 'What do you mean, the hard way?'

The quillion would have been the easy way. I have taken on the gift from many a male. But you resisted where they could not. Now I must skin you alive to have your gift. First, I will have to disable you. You will lie helpless, as I do it.'

She held out a hand. A sword floated out from behind the big oak, out of the darkness, and into her hand.

With a shriek, she swept across the clearing toward him. Her sword flashed in the moonlight.

Without thinking, Richard lifted his hand, calling his sword and its magic. The response was instant. The anger inundated him. He felt the hilt slam into his palm as Lil-iana swung her sword. The sword, the magic, the spirits, were with him. He brought the blade up, blocking her strike.

Dimly, Richard wondered why his sword didn't shatter hers. But then he was moving. The dance with death had begun.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04