She could see that lower down the pass there were dense green forests blanketing the slopes to either side that would help conceal them. In the center of the descending ground among the hills, far below, she could see a broad valley with a large stream snaking back and forth through flat grassland. She could also see the path in places as it wound its way down toward that expansive valley.
Beyond the grassland with that meandering stream, the countryside was open. There were no mountains to block their way.
What Kahlan was looking out at was the eastern ranges of the Midlands where it met D’Hara.
She felt a swell of excitement at seeing that open ground. Her heart beat faster. Each breath came quicker. She was almost home. She felt tears unexpectedly well up at the thought of finally being in the Midlands.
“It’s our way out,” she whispered to Richard with tear-choked words.
Richard circled an arm around her shoulders to give her a quick hug. “We will be to Aydindril before you know it.”
Below them they could see that the road went through the opening in the western wall of Bindamoon. She knew, though, that once on that road they would be out in the open, where they could be easily spotted from either side of the town. To make matters worse, it was getting brighter, as the sun was close to rising behind them. It couldn’t be avoided, so they hurried down out of the buildings to the road that would get them as far away from the town as swiftly as possible.
Once they were on the main road that led through the wall and out of town, everyone kept a watch all around. Fortunately, they didn’t see anyone. Lights from lamps began coming on in a few windows behind them, but Kahlan didn’t see anyone looking out.
The road led to an arched opening in the wall that was much like the one in the wall they had come through when they had entered Bindamoon from the east side, meaning that the town was a walled fortress with a wall guarding it from both sides of the pass.
Kahlan was relieved to see that the portcullis was drawn up. As they passed into the dark, arched tunnel through the wall, they all kept looking back to make sure no one was watching or following. Kahlan’s gaze flicked from window to window, but she still didn’t see anyone watching them. The huge wooden doors, like the ones on the eastern side of the town, also stood open.
She was alarmed to see, up on the wall, a small group of ravens looking down, watching them pass beneath.
Beyond the wall, the road dwindled back down to a well-worn trail. They hurried away as quickly as possible without running, putting distance between them and the town. As soon as they were out of the protection of the town, the cold air returned. With the mild conditions inside Bindamoon she had forgotten just how cold it had been outside.
Kahlan felt a sense of relief when they finally made their way in among sparse trees. Most were pine, and the ground was open. In places there were groupings of white birch. She could see that off ahead the woods became increasingly dense. She looked forward to getting into dense woods, where they couldn’t so easily be spotted, although, she realized, the ravens would probably follow and keep track of them. Once they reached the Midlands and were away from Bindamoon, she thought, the ravens might finally abandon following them. She didn’t care if they flew around outside the Keep once she got there.
Suddenly, without warning, the air around them turned green. Kahlan had been lost in her thoughts as they marched along; Richard thrust an arm in front of her to prevent her from inadvertently taking another step and walking into the world of the dead. As everyone lurched to a stop, the strange green glow was all around them. Going any farther would bring up the darkness of the underworld.
“Bags,” he growled. “I was afraid of that.”
It was unusual for Richard to curse. In this case, she couldn’t say she blamed him. She shared the same frustrated rage.
“What do we do now?” Vika asked.
Richard backed them all away from the green wall of death. He glared back toward the fortress town.
“We no longer have a choice,” he said. “The boundary completely blocks any way to get out. We’re going to have to go back to Bindamoon.”
Kahlan gestured off to the sides. “Maybe if we checked to the sides there might be an opening in the boundary wall—a way around it if not through it.”
Richard shook his head in anger. “You know as well as I do that’s a false hope. Someone wanted to get us here to Bindamoon and to keep us here. They were willing to kill any traveler or trader who might come along and walk into the boundary in order to make that happen. This place is a trap and they aren’t going to let us escape it so easily.”
When they turned back, off in the distance they could see Iron Jack, hands planted on his hips, standing on top of the wall, watching them.
15
With the boundary now blocking any hope for escape, they had no choice but to turn around and trudge back toward the tunneled opening in the wall. Satisfied to see that they were returning, Iron Jack turned and vanished from the top of the wall. Kahlan wondered where he was going.
Richard fumed in a quiet rage. His silence was telling. She knew that when he got like this it was best not to ask him anything unless it was important. The focus of his anger rightly belonged on whoever was doing this to them.
As was his way, he had first tried to avoid a conflict. Now that those who had created this trap had made avoiding conflict impossible, he was prepared to meet it head-on.
Kahlan struggled to put one foot in front of the other. She was exhausted, both physically and mentally. It seemed like everything was grinding her down. Her worry, though, was for the twins, not for herself.
It seemed like forever ago that they had started out from the People’s Palace, and yet the distant Wizard’s Keep seemed no closer. In her mind, the Keep had come to seem more an impossible dream than a place they would ever reach.
They had been traveling for so long her belly had grown quite large. She was relieved to feel the babies kick from time to time, because it meant they were still alive. Everyone sacrificed their own food to give to her, knowing she needed it for the growing babies.
Because they had lost an unknown stretch of time in the strange wood, she was no longer sure of when the babies would come, other than knowing that it was still a ways off. But with as big as she was getting, that time was clearly getting closer, while the Keep wasn’t.
She reminded herself that she was still the Mother Confessor, and no matter her concerns and doubts, this was no time to show weakness.
She gestured to the sides. “There is still some forest here, outside the wall. I don’t like that place inside the walls. We know they already tried to spell us—or poison us—with the food, and we know that the man up there bound your sword into its scabbard. Obviously, it’s dangerous in there. Why don’t we just go into the woods and set up a camp while we come up with a plan?”
Richard kept his gaze resolutely ahead as he continued to march toward the opening in the wall. “How is camping out here going to get us to the Keep?”
“I don’t know,” Kahlan said in a weary voice, “but how is going back in there without a plan going to get us to the Keep?”
“I have a plan.”
Kahlan gave him a sidelong glance. “And what would that be?”
Richard didn’t look over at her. “The people who are preventing us from getting to Aydindril by doing all these things to stop us, like the way they used my gift to bring up the boundary, are after those babies you are carrying. They are willing to let people who wander into that wall die. They are after the hope of our world and willing to kill innocent people to get what they want. I can’t let this threat stand. I’m going in there and putting a stop to it.”