Neither of their magic could get past the other’s wall of power, and the collision of their opposing powers created a blinding explosion of light in the center of the massive chamber. That sizzling light expanded outward in all directions, blasting into the stone to all sides—but far more critically, that sheer plane of power also shot vertically with a thunderous boom. Kahlan recognized that it was a hot brew of Additive and Subtractive Magic coming together. Both of their powers were clashing together in ways that weren’t ever supposed to happen.
As the discharge of that explosive energy shot upward, it cut through the ceiling, the same as it sliced through the walls to the sides, going straight up through the entire palace, severing walls and floors above in the massive, ripping blast. Kahlan could hear the thunder of walls and ceilings on all the floors above collapsing inward.
And then, with so much above them destroyed, the ceiling of the massive chamber started caving in.
The other witches all ran for the safety of the caverns at the rear of the great chamber. Shota began retreating with them as she continued to use her power to hold Richard at bay and keep him where he was.
The redheaded witch in front of Kahlan slammed the heel of her hand into the center of Kahlan’s chest to force her back. At the same time, the two holding her arms yanked her back with them into the darkness of the tunnels.
The ground shook and the air filled with rolling, choking dust as unimaginable tons of rock from the palace above as well as the mountain itself began cascading down into the vast chamber just as the witch women dragged her back into the safety of the labyrinth.
Kahlan tried to reach out as she screamed Richard’s name, but even as she did, she knew he would never be able to hear her in the deafening thunder of everything from above collapsing in on him.
She lost sight of him in the cascade of stone and the swirling clouds of dust.
25
In the oppressive silence, Richard realized that he heard distant, muffled voices. He couldn’t make out who was talking, or what they were saying. It didn’t seem to be important to him just then, so he didn’t dwell on it. His head hurt.
When he realized that he was beginning to wake up, he rather wished that he wasn’t, because, besides his head throbbing, he was just beginning to realize that he hurt all over. In order to try to alleviate the discomfort, he attempted to reposition himself. But when he tried to move, he found that for some reason he couldn’t.
In his mind, he did his best to determine if it was that he was being physically prevented from moving, or he was somehow paralyzed.
That sensation of not being able to move brought on a wave of alarm that woke him the rest of the way. He looked around but couldn’t see anything at all. He felt with his hands, trying to figure out where he was.
In the pitch blackness, he felt something smooth, cold, and dusty mere inches above him. As he felt around, it seemed to be entirely over the top of him, but angled downward as it got closer toward his feet. There was more space under the thing above him up where his head was, so he was able to move his arms a little, but not his legs.
As he groped around, he felt ragged chunks of stone packed tight all around him. Everything was covered with what felt like a thick layer of dust. He regretted moving, because it lifted the dust into the air and he couldn’t avoid breathing it in. He coughed, trying to get it out of his lungs. By the taste, he knew that it was stone dust.
As he was regaining consciousness, or waking up—he wasn’t sure which—he began to remember seeing Shota unleash Subtractive Magic. He had known that if he didn’t act quickly, he would be killed. But he remembered that it seemed at the time as if his legs wouldn’t move the way he needed. Maybe it had simply been sheer terror that kept him in place and prevented him from running.
He wasn’t entirely sure what he had done at that point, other than simply reacting out of instinct. His gift as a war wizard, from somewhere deep inside him, came forth and did what was necessary to save him.
But he did remember being alarmed at how the explosive collision of Subtractive Magic had cut through the walls and ceiling. He didn’t know how far those voids went off into the side of the mountain, but he realized that they instantly cut all the way up through the entire palace. It had to have cut support structures and beams in addition to floors, ceilings, and arches all the way up through the towering structure.
He remembered the terrible shrieking blast of Subtractive and Additive Magic mixing and then the roar of the entire place coming apart as it started falling in, and not being able to make his legs work. Even as he started remembering it, though, the whole thing felt like something that happened long ago, or maybe in a dream, or even to someone else.
He was so thirsty he couldn’t think clearly. He worked his tongue against the top of his mouth, trying to moisten it, but the dust in his mouth was turning to a chalky paste and only making matters worse.
Putting all the pieces together in his mind, he realized that the entire place and probably some of the mountain had come down on top of him and he was obviously trapped, probably under one of the slabs of a floor from above. A lot of the rubble was packed around his legs so tightly he couldn’t move them.
He realized that while he was jammed into a small space, at least the thick slab above him had saved him from being crushed under what had to be the weight of the entire palace. As lucky as that was to have survived in the small pocket under the slab, he felt a rising sense of panic at realizing that he was buried alive. There was no hope of digging his way out from under a mountain of rubble.
He reached up and felt his throbbing head. It was wet. He put a finger to his mouth to taste the wetness. He could tell by the coppery taste that it was blood. That explained his head hurting. It felt like it hurt both on the outside and inside.
Again he heard the distant voices. He had thought in the beginning that it must have been something he heard in a dream, but now that he was fully awake, he knew it was a person calling out to him.
“I’m down here!” he yelled as loud as he could.
He didn’t get a response, so he called out again, forcing himself to yell louder. He was feeling desperate as he fought back his growing panic. He called out again, louder yet.
“Lord Rahl?” came a distant voice.
“Berdine? Is that you?”
“Yes!” The voice came closer. “Yes! It’s me! I’m here!”
He heard people frantically talking. The sound came closer until he could make out individuals. Apparently, whoever was up above with Berdine was excited that they had gotten a response. Now that he knew there were people out there somewhere, he started squirming, thinking he might be able to work his way out.
He soon realized, though, that it was simply impossible. The stone was packed in so tight that none of it would budge. He couldn’t make any of it move so much as an inch. He was stuck solid in the rubble.
He began to remember his alarm as the entire palace above them had started to come down. Shota had somehow managed to touch off Subtractive Magic. The only way to prevent her from killing him had been to use a mix of Additive and Subtractive Magic to counter it. It had been his only chance. When those powers had come together, it had created a knifelike blast of Subtractive Magic that had cut all the way up through the palace and at the same time to the sides through the mountain under the palace.