He hadn’t known that a witch woman could do such things. Apparently, from what Kahlan had been saying, a coven amplified her power and gave her additional abilities. For all of her assurances that she had no intention to harm them, she was quick to attack him with lethal power.
He remembered, too, that gifted people could join their abilities to amplify their power. The joining of the power of all those witch women had obviously managed to bring forth the boundary. That alone was a demonstration of the power that Shota now had at her disposal.
He could hardly believe that Shale had joined them. No, it wasn’t her doing, he reminded himself. She was being used. He remembered that Shota had said as much. He could tell by the empty stare that Shale was not acting on her own.
“Lord Rahl!” Berdine’s voice was closer, and more desperate. Even so, it still seemed like it was some distance away. “Lord Rahl, are you still there?”
“Mostly, I think. There is a big slab of floor, or ceiling, over the top of me. It created a pocket and kept me from being crushed. But my legs are encased in the rubble and I can’t move them. How long have I been stuck down here?”
“This is the end of the second day,” came the response.
Two days. Richard was stunned.
“Is Kahlan with you?”
This time the answer was slow in coming. “I’m afraid not. We haven’t been able to find anyone other than you.”
That answer sent a shiver of panic and pain through his heart. She had to have escaped. He told himself that she had gotten out in time.
“Who’s with you?” he called out.
“All of us. When everything started collapsing, the falling ceiling toppled those big stone birds. They sheltered us from all the stone falling in long enough for all of us to run into the tunnels and escape. We only just made it in time. We had hoped you were right behind us. The entire palace fell into that underground room and with all the dust and falling debris we couldn’t see if all the witch women escaped.”
Escaped with Kahlan, she meant. Richard didn’t know which would have been a worse fate—to have her die quickly, or have the witch women take her away to do what they intended. He knew that despite what Shota said, she was no longer willing to tolerate Richard and Kahlan being alive to disobey her wishes.
“Part of the mountain collapsed off to the side,” Berdine called out. “We have a lot of town people up here with us. They are all helping.”
He thought that was odd. “What do you mean, helping?”
“Helping dig you out. We’ve all been working for two days to dig through the rubble, hoping to find you alive. We were not going to stop, but we were beginning to give up hope.”
“I’m stuck down here.”
“I know. But a lot of the town people came right away to help us. We’ve been digging inward from the section of the mountain that fell away. Your power cutting through the walls caused a big section of the mountain to slide away, so we’re digging in from the side. We’ve been searching, calling out, and digging for two days, day and night, hoping to find you. But a lot of the stone from the palace is in big, heavy chunks and some of it needs to be broken apart in order to move it out of the way. Now that we know you are alive, and where you are, we can concentrate on getting to you.”
Richard let out a weary breath. He didn’t want to tell her that his head was bleeding, and he was dizzy. It felt like the dark world he was trapped in was spinning and tilting.
“Don’t worry, Lord Rahl. We’re coming for you. Hold on. But I fear it will take some time.”
Richard nodded, then realized they couldn’t see him nod. “I’ll wait right here.”
“Lord Rahl, just try to relax. It will take us some time to get to you, but we won’t give up. I can promise you that.”
Richard felt tears welling up for Kahlan and their children. He feared to think what had happened to her.
For a moment, he felt overwhelmed by all of the insurmountable problems. In that instant, he thought that it would be better to just give up.
And then, he could feel his mind slipping into darkness deeper than the darkness of where he lay.
26
Richard heard people grunting with effort. And then, as a large chunk of stone was rolled aside, his dark hole was suddenly lit by a small shaft of light. It made him squint in the sudden brightness.
“Lord Rahl!” He recognized Vika’s voice, and he could hear the desperation in it. “Lord Rahl!”
“I’m still here.”
“Thank the good spirits,” she murmured.
Richard briefly thought to ask her if the good spirits were up there helping them dig.
“Water,” he called in a weak voice, instead. “Can you get me some water?”
“Water? Yes, we will get some,” Vika said. “We’ve made a tunnel of sorts to get to you. It shouldn’t be long before we have you out. Just hold on, Lord Rahl. We’ll have you out soon.”
“I need water,” he mumbled.
“Rikka is running to get some. Hold on.”
He could hear people grunting as they either lifted stone out of the way if it was small enough to handle, or rolled it back if it was too big and heavy to pick up. Hammers rang out against steel chisels as men tried to break up the larger pieces in their path. Others shouted instructions as they worked. Richard realized that he could hear a surprisingly large number of voices.
The light coming into his cavity in the rubble lit what he thought would be his grave with even more light as the people frantically worked to open the way in to reach him. The shaft of light revealed all the dust swirling around him. Richard wondered if they would be too late. He could feel himself losing the strength to remain conscious. They had told him that he had been there for two days. Stuck in the dusty space under the slab without water, it seemed like forever.
From time to time he heard things above him collapse and large blocks tumble down the hill of debris. It sounded like more walls might occasionally be falling in, or maybe ceilings that had little support might finally have given way—or were starting to give way. He was well aware that if things shifted wrong, or something big enough were to fall, he would be crushed. The thought of that made his chest tighten with the embrace of panic. Every time he heard stone above groan, or fall, he held his breath, waiting for the end.
He constantly had to fight back dread at being trapped under a mountain of rubble, never to get out. To keep his mind from wandering into frightening thoughts, he remembered Kahlan’s face, trying to recall every detail.
Suddenly, a hand touched his shoulder. He jumped right out of his memory.
“Lord Rahl, it’s me,” Vika said.
She was close. Grunting and panting, she had somehow squirmed her way through the little tunnel they had made to his grave.
Richard reached up and put a hand over hers. It was bloody from digging through the rough, jagged stone chunks and rubble.
“I’m here,” she said, groaning with the effort of getting in close enough. He could hear her pulling something up along her body. “I brought you a waterskin.”
He squeezed her hand. “Today, Vika, you are my favorite. Be sure to tell Berdine.”
Vika laughed a little as she pulled her hand back. She pulled the waterskin the rest of the way up along her body and then pushed it through the final part of the opening, which was barely big enough for her arm. Once it was in, she pushed her arm back through and grabbed his hand. He didn’t know if she was reassuring him, or herself, but he held on to the hand as he guzzled water while holding the waterskin with his other.
“Take it easy. Don’t drink it all at once or it will make you sick.”
Richard nodded and pulled it away to get his breath.