The buildings of the town seemed to have sprouted around the soaring palace like mushrooms around a tree trunk in damp weather.
As they got close, they didn’t need the view between buildings; it loomed over them. Here and there Kahlan saw people in the windows of the surrounding buildings, looking out, greeting the early morning. In a few places, women leaned out to pull in laundry that had dried overnight. Occasionally, in the distance, she saw people hurrying among the buildings, but she didn’t see anyone nearby.
As they were going up a cobblestone street that rose gently toward the palace, Iron Jack suddenly stepped out from a side alleyway to once again block their path.
“This is as close to the palace as you will be getting until the queen says otherwise,” he announced.
Richard grew calm in a way that she knew all too well. Trouble was about to begin. She saw, then, several more men waiting in the shadows behind Iron Jack. Without being obvious about it, she pulled her knife from its sheath at her side. She saw Shale do the same.
She was surprised to see Richard reach over and grip the hilt of his sword. He couldn’t possibly have forgotten that it was bound into the scabbard by magic, so she couldn’t imagine what he was doing.
He stood for a moment, head bowed, eyes closed, the muscles in his jaw flexing, his right hand on the hilt of the sword at his left hip, the muscles in his arm relaxed. She realized he was letting the power of the sword flow into him, letting its rage join with his. She suspected he was also summoning his own gift.
And then he began to draw the sword.
The blade came out silky smooth. Its distinctive ring echoed through the canyons of buildings as the blade, stained black by the world of the dead, emerged from the scabbard. The gleaming black steel greeted the dawn, ready to do battle.
Iron Jack looked stunned. “You can’t do that! I myself sealed the sword and scabbard into one with powerful magic!”
Richard glared at the man. “I am the Lord Rahl.”
“Not my lord. I answer to no one but the queen.”
“You, and the queen, answer to me and to the Mother Confessor,” Richard said in a deadly voice.
Vika stepped up beside Richard. She made a show of spinning her Agiel up into her fist.
The rest of the Mord-Sith moved protectively around Kahlan. Each of them had her Agiel in her fist at the ready. They looked fed up with Iron Jack’s nonsense and seemed more than pleased that Richard was as well. So was Kahlan.
Growing up, she had never had any interest in flaunting her authority. Her mother instilled a sense of responsibility as a Confessor, not self-importance. It was simply something she had been born with, not something she had that she would hold over others. As Mother Confessor, she knew how to wield that authority when it was necessary. And when it was necessary, she found that she didn’t especially like that authority dismissed or disrespected, because respect for the Mother Confessor was not about her, it was about everything she represented.
Richard was much the same. He had never lusted after power. He never sought to be the Lord Rahl. But he had come to accept the responsibility and he, too, was fed up with his authority being ignored in something so important. He was, after all, the leader of the D’Haran Empire, and as such he ruled over these people. Including Iron Jack and the queen.
They were about to find out why.
As Iron Jack watched, Richard drew the sword across the inside of his forearm, giving the blade a taste of blood, something that made the sword’s anger lust for more. Kahlan could see the sword’s magic dancing in the Seeker’s eyes.
Richard brought the blade up to touch his forehead. He closed his eyes.
“Blade, be true this day,” he whispered.
“Is that supposed to scare me?” Iron Jack asked.
“This blade can’t harm an innocent,” Richard said. “It can only harm an enemy. I suggest you decide for yourself if you should be afraid.”
Iron Jack ran a hand down his red beard as he took a step back. Rather than accepting Richard’s command to stand down, he suddenly lifted his hands with an attack of his own.
When he did, every one of the Mord-Sith around Kahlan toppled to the ground as if a rug had been pulled out from under them. Iron Jack had attacked, not with a blade, but with his gift. As they struggled unsuccessfully to get back to their feet, they were visibly in pain from the magic Iron Jack had used. He smiled in satisfaction at seeing them on the ground.
They all knew that Iron Jack had magic, but any of the Mord-Sith, when he used that magic against them, should have been able to capture his magic and use it against him. That none of them could clearly spoke to the unique power of his gift.
Shale moved closer to Kahlan, her knife at the ready, obviously not willing to put her faith in her gift against such a man.
Iron Jack defiantly spread his feet to show that he intended to block their passage. “As I said, no one sees the queen until she wishes it. You may have somehow overpowered the magic fusing your sword tight in its scabbard, but you will not overpower me.”
The man again lifted his hands in anger.
Suddenly, in the distance, Glee flooded out from around the corners of buildings. In a heartbeat they took out the men in the background, before they knew what had hit them. Tall, dark creatures, all teeth and claws, raced down the cobblestone passageway.
The Glee weren’t materializing out of thin air the way they usually did. Steam didn’t rise from them as always before. They didn’t come streaming into Richard and Kahlan’s world all together for an attack.
This time, they were using a new tactic: they had been hiding in ambush and Richard and Kahlan had walked right into their surprise attack.
The Glee had just learned an important strategy. Ambush gives the attacker a tactical advantage. That kind of attacker gets to pick the place and the moment of attack, while the defender is caught unaware and forced to respond, which puts them at a disadvantage because action usually beats reaction.
17
Richard was pleased to see that Iron Jack’s ire was so fixated on him that he didn’t even notice what was happening back over his shoulder until one of the tall creatures raced in and crashed into him. As it did, it grabbed him from behind. The Glee’s new tactic of ambush meant never letting the opponent see you coming. Iron Jack hadn’t seen them coming. Before the stunned bearded man could grasp what was happening and react, dark, slimy arms had already circled around him from each side.
Jack twisted frantically in an attempt to get out of the bear hug, but the powerful arms held him in tight against the Glee that had him. Shards of light flashed from the man’s hands as he tried to use some kind of power to get the better of his attacker. The Glee bent its head first one way and then the other to avoid each of the flashes of light, but another creature nearby was torn apart by the release of the man’s gift and fell dead.
Before Iron Jack could do anything to get away, the Glee that had him sank its teeth into the back of the man’s neck to hold him. The creature then pulled its claws in opposite directions as Iron Jack was being held by the teeth in his neck. One claw ripped open Iron Jack’s chest. At the same time, the other claw pulled in the opposite direction to tear out his throat. He didn’t even have time to cry out before the Glee dropped him in a bloody heap to come charging for Richard.
Fortunately, because they surprised Iron Jack first, Richard was ready, and the magic coursing through him from his sword was ready to respond with swift violence.