Vika bowed her head to the commander as if in respect for the man for agreeing with her.
Richard reluctantly forced himself to think through the fog of rage about their words. He had to ram the Sword of Truth back into its scabbard to quench the anger it was feeding into him. He took a settling breath.
Finally, he gave a nod to Vika. “You’re right. Thanks for not letting me do something stupid.”
“From what I hear from my sisters of the Agiel, that appears to be my full-time job.”
Some of the soldiers chuckled.
“All right,” Richard said. “Let’s hurry and get back to that man to see if there is anything that can be done for him.”
The commander gestured back with his sword. “The only thing you can do for him now, Lord Rahl, is to say some words as he is laid to rest. His pain and terror is at last ended. He is in the hands of the good spirits, now.”
Richard felt terrible that the man had died guarding him.
“We need to search this hall and see if that thing is still down there,” he told the commander. “If it is, we won’t be rushing into an ambush. We will corner it. Have some of your men get torches.”
Once close to a dozen men rushed back with torches, Richard moved quickly but cautiously on down the hall, looking for the killer. Men searched every room along the way. At each intersection two men were dispatched to scout side routes. The farther they went down the main corridor, the more the corridors branched off.
After a time-consuming, fruitless search, Richard finally brought them all to a stop. “There is no telling where that thing went. But from what Nolo told us, they can simply melt into thin air and go back to their own world. I suspect it’s no longer in the palace.”
“I’m afraid I have to agree,” Vika said. “I think it’s gone.”
“But to be sure,” Richard said, “I want the men to conduct a thorough search. Make sure they are in pairs at a minimum.”
The commander nodded. “I will get more men and we will search this entire part of the palace.”
Richard raked his fingers back through his hair. “I need to go check on Kahlan.” He was still feeling the remnants of the sword’s rage crackling through him. It was hard to douse such powerful anger once it had been ignited. “If the sorceress isn’t finished healing the Mother Confessor, I will wring her neck.”
“I’m sure she is doing her best, Lord Rahl,” Vika offered in a quiet voice.
Richard nodded before addressing all the men watching him. “It looks like these predators are ambush hunters. They pick the moment to strike. That means we will always be at a disadvantage. It doesn’t matter how big and strong you men are. If they catch you off guard, or alone, you will be like that unfortunate soldier back there—dead before you know what happened.”
“Then it would seem prudent,” the commander said, “that all men standing guard, no matter where, do not do so alone. There should be at least two men, maybe three, at each post. That way if the enemy jumps one of them, the others can attack it.”
Richard sighed as he nodded. “That’s the idea. Please see to it. In the meantime, I need to make sure the Mother Confessor is safe.”
The commander clapped a fist to his heart. “This way, Lord Rahl.”
“While I’m checking on her,” Richard said as he started out, “I want all the officers of the First File gathered.” He gestured to the left. “There’s a devotion square not far away in that direction. There’s too many men of the First File to pull them from their duties all over the palace and address them all at once, but by meeting with the officers they can pass my words on to their men. Have them gather there so that I can talk to them.”
6
Kahlan, in the white dress of the Mother Confessor, was just emerging from their bedroom as Richard hurried into the entryway from the broad corridor. He could see that her arms were moving without pain. She was walking straight and tall, which told him that the healing had been successful.
When her green-eyed gaze locked on him, her expression brightened.
The Mord-Sith were all gathered in that round entry where they had been guarding the bedroom all night while Shale had finished the healing. Only Vika had gone with Richard to another room where he could get some rest.
A weary-looking Shale followed Kahlan out. Richard knew that such a healing would have been quite an ordeal for her as well as Kahlan. He could read in the sorceress’s face and in her aura the toll it had taken on her.
Kahlan rushed into his arms and for a long moment he lost himself in that embrace, relieved beyond words to see her looking like herself again. As he was hugging her, he reached out with one hand to touch Shale’s arm in appreciation for what she had done. She returned a proud smile.
“Did you sleep well?” Kahlan asked, holding his upper arms as she pushed back from the hug.
“Without you? Hardly at all.”
Kahlan flashed him her special smile. “Now that Shale has finished healing me, tonight you will be back with me, and I will see to it that you do.”
“There was an attack,” he said, hating to break the spell of her smile.
Just that quick, the smile was gone. “What?”
“I’m pretty sure that it was the same kind of thing that attacked you—one of the predators sent by the Golden Goddess. The thing you called the scribbly man.”
Kahlan’s face lost some of its color. “Where? When?”
Richard pointed a thumb back over his shoulder. “A short time ago. It was one of the soldiers standing guard by himself down the hall not far from the room where I was sleeping.”
“Was he severely hurt, Lord Rahl?” Shale asked from behind Kahlan. “Can I help?”
Richard shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s too late to help him.”
“Dear spirits, that’s terrible.” Kahlan frowned. “Why attack a lone man standing guard? That seems odd.”
“I think because I was sleeping nearby.”
Just then, a soldier of the First File rushed into the entryway breathing heavily. “Lord Rahl, Mother Confessor, are you both all right?”
“Yes,” Richard said. “What is it?”
“One of the sentries standing guard down a hallway branching off from this corridor coming in here was just found dead.”
“Did it look like he had been mauled by a bear?” Richard asked, his heart sinking.
“That’s right,” the man said, looking a little surprised. “There is no sign of whatever it was that attacked him.”
“So, you didn’t catch sight of it?”
“No, Lord Rahl.”
“I heard a scream a couple of hours ago,” Cassia said.
Richard turned to stare at the Mord-Sith. “And you didn’t go to help the man?”
She frowned. “Of course not, Lord Rahl.”
“Why not?”
“Because our duty is to protect the Mother Confessor. It could be that it was a diversion to draw us away from protecting her. We are not going to abandon our duty to keep her safe. The risk of doing so would be too great. It is the job of the First File to respond to such things.”
Richard looked at the grim faces of Rikka, Nyda, Vale, and Berdine. None looked to think any differently.
“Lord Rahl,” Berdine finally said, “we are here, in your place, to protect your wife. She is just as important to preserving the magic protecting this world as you are. I know you would not want us to be tricked into leaving her without our protection. We would not trust her to anyone else’s care. We are the last line of defense. We would all die before harm could get a look at her, just as we would all die before harm could get a look at you.”