Richard gestured. “The one in the middle.”
She looked toward the wall and then frowned back at him. “There are four openings. There is no middle one.”
Richard nodded toward the openings. “Take the second from the right. Once into the darkness where you can’t see it yet, it forks. The others don’t. That makes five passageways. Take the left fork and that will be the middle one. It’s a concealed shortcut.”
Vika shook her head. “Only the Lord Rahl could see what no one else can.”
“It’s not magic. I saw the plans beforehand.”
“So did I,” Vika said. “All I remember of them is that it was a confusing mess.”
“It isn’t nearly so confusing for me but only because I understand spell-forms and the language of Creation.”
“I hate magic,” Berdine muttered.
The rest of the Mord-Sith nodded their fervent agreement.
Richard couldn’t help smiling his joy that they had all survived.
“We’ll be up and out of here shortly,” he told them. “Then we can all get cleaned up. Vika, you can finally wash the blood off your face.”
She shrugged her indifference. “I don’t mind blood.”
“Well, we are going to be up in the palace soon, where there will be other people. Seeing blood on a Mord-Sith in red leather scares people.”
“As well it should,” Vika said without a hint of humor.
These women were still mad, but he was encouraged that at times they showed glimmers of their humanity. At other times, though, they were simply stone-cold mad.
“What about getting to the Wizard’s Keep?” Shale pressed. “The witch man is dead, so we can now safely leave the palace without having to worry about him sabotaging our cause in your absence. We need to be on our way at once. It’s not safe for us here. The sooner we leave, the better. We can clean up later.”
Richard sighed. “It would probably be best to get something to eat.” He glanced at Berdine. She flashed him a smile. “It would also be good to get a proper night’s rest.”
He hooked a thumb behind his belt as he considered. “But with the extreme danger of the Glee attacking us unexpectedly while we’re still here, that would not be the safest thing to do.” He tipped his head toward Shale. “You have a good point. If they discover that we’re still here, they will continue their attacks. There is no telling how overpowering the next attack might be. We might not be able to stop them the next time. If they win just once, all is lost.
“The safest thing to do, the thing that would best protect Kahlan, the twins, and the future of our way of life, would be to do as we first intended when all this started and leave immediately in darkness.”
“You mean the plan when Michec captured me?” Vika asked.
Richard nodded. “The threat from Moravaska Michec has been eliminated, but the threat from the Glee most definitely hasn’t. We need to get back to our original plan of getting away from here and to the safety of the Keep.”
“I think I should be able to gather horses and supplies this time without any nasty surprises,” Vika said with a clear tone of relief.
“And I will make sure that we leave unseen so that the Glee won’t know where we went,” the sorceress said. “That should give us some breathing room.”
“It should be well after dark by the time we can get the horses and supplies,” Kahlan said. “While not the best for traveling, leaving in the dark would certainly help us evade any spying eyes.”
“Let’s get to it, then,” Richard said, as he started ahead.
As they finally went through the last of the locked doors, the guards were there to greet them.
“Lord Rahl!” exclaimed the first one to see them. Along with the rest of the men, he stood up straight and tall as he saluted with a fist to his heart.
“I hope everything went well for you?” the man asked.
“We accomplished what we needed to do,” Richard said without elaboration, locking the door behind them.
Berdine grinned at the guard. “We killed a witch.”
He blinked in shock. “A witch? But how could a witch possibly get in there?”
Richard handed the man the keys Michec had been using. “As it happens, he was also a pickpocket.”
27
By the time they made the long walk through the public areas of the palace where they had to worry about being seen by the goddess through the eyes of all the people in the halls, then along the routes hidden from the public where they didn’t have to worry about the goddess seeing them, and then they were finally back up at the stables, it was deep in the night. After the ordeal down in the complication, they were all exhausted, but escaping without the Glee knowing that they were gone—or where they had gone—was more important than sleep. They were all eager to make good their escape sight unseen and be on their way.
None of them talked as they waited in hiding up at the stables. They were preoccupied with their own thoughts and no one was much in the mood to talk. They knew they had an ordeal ahead of them and dangers they couldn’t yet imagine.
Vika rushed back behind the manure wagon and leaned down. “Everything is ready, Lord Rahl. Horses with supplies are gathered in the staging area. I told them that it was for a distant but routine patrol. I didn’t want them to know it was for you.”
Richard smiled. “Good thinking, Vika.”
“Besides the travel food that will keep, the kitchens had just finished a late-night meal for staff, so I was able to get us some freshly cooked food for when we’re able to stop.”
Berdine grinned. “I guess you are a favorite to all of us today.”
Richard ignored Berdine and looked back over his shoulder at Shale. “All right. Do what you need to do to hide us from the men in the stables so we can leave unseen.”
Shale gave him a look that was part witch woman and part sorceress. “What do you think I’ve been doing? I wanted to make sure we weren’t discovered waiting back here. We can go anytime. They won’t so much as notice us. Even if the Golden Goddess searches their minds, there will be nothing of us there for her to find or see. We just have to be sure not to linger, lest the spell wear off.”
Kahlan leaned in. “Is there anything special we need to do? Anything we need to wait for?”
“No,” Shale said as she stood. “We can mount up and be on our way. But the spell won’t last long.”
The witch woman walked out into the open and past a man headed to one of the stables. The rest of them cautiously followed her toward the waiting horses, feeling more than obvious. Richard looked around as they made their way across the grounds, but none of the stable workers appeared to notice them. They walked right past a man carrying rakes and shovels toward the first building. The man was whistling softly to himself and didn’t even look up.
When they reached the horses, they all checked the gear, and made sure the saddle girth straps were tight. They tested the security of the saddlebags and the sacks tied to each of the horses. The horses seemed calm. They were used to late-night patrols.
Richard hooked an unstrung bow and a quiver stuffed with arrows on the back of the saddle of one of the larger horses. When he was finished checking that everything was secure, he moved forward, keeping his hand on the side of the horse so it would know where he was. He spoke softly to it and finally stroked its neck. The horse tossed its head in response, as if to say, “Let’s go.” It was hard to tell in the weak light of lanterns hanging on the fronts of buildings, but the animal looked black.
Kahlan stroked the nose of the mare right behind, then scratched its forehead. It whinnied softly and nuzzled its head against her in appreciation of her gentle touch.