Severed Souls

Not one bit.

CHAPTER 20

The commander didn’t back down and defer to the Lord Rahl, the way some subordinates would have. Richard expected his men to use their heads and not just blindly agree with what he said. Throughout the long war he had instilled that principle in all the officers.

Tyranny had long reigned in D’Hara. Such men ruled with absolute authority and did not tolerate dissenting views. Richard expected people to use their heads and speak up if they thought it was important enough. He valued the experience and knowledge of others. What they could contribute added to, rather than detracted from a leader’s ability to rule. Because of that, there had been times when Richard had been persuaded by reasoned arguments and changed his mind.

“Lord Rahl,” Commander Fister said, “they may be predators and all, and as such they may very well have a strong instinct to chase, but the prisoner told us that these Shun-tuk are spirit trackers. They sense spirits—souls—and can follow them. They will be able to sense the men they are to follow into the gorge well enough, but they are also going to be able to sense the men we have hiding to either side.”

“Yes,” Richard said, “but the group they are chasing will be bunched together and running from them. The men hiding on the slopes to the side will be scattered and stationary. That bunching together of the group they are chasing, that accumulation of souls, will create a much stronger aura for them to follow than scattered individuals.

“Think of it this way. If you are about to go into battle, and you see a large force of the enemy advancing along a tree line, coming toward your position, are you going to be more focused on that main battle formation or on some individuals you spot randomly located out in the fields?”

“I’d pay attention to both, and wonder what the ones out in the field were up to.” Commander Fister tapped the hilt of his sword with a thumb. “But I see your point. In the end, the main group is going to have to be the focus of my attention. Even so, I don’t see that they will abandon their caution just because we want to draw them into a trap.”

Richard smiled. “They will if we make it irresistible.”

The commander shared a look with Kahlan before looking suspiciously at Richard. He had aired his view, and if Richard rejected it, he wasn’t sure what else to say. He looked like he was hoping that Kahlan would.

Kahlan thought that Richard’s sickness was wearing him down and affecting his judgment. So, she stepped in to support Commander Fister’s view.

“Richard, they may be primitive, but they are also skilled predators. They may indeed be eager to chase the main group, but decide instead to pick off those lone individuals, first, choosing to go after the easy souls and at the same time reduce our numbers. After all, that’s what they did with Ned. They attacked a lone man so they could get at our horses. They didn’t directly attack us first. First they went after softer prey. They may choose to do that this time as well.”

“Not if they are going after the one thing they want more than anything else but events are moving rapidly and it may slip away from them. Not if they think they finally have us on the run and vulnerable and they have no time to lose.”

“Vulnerable,” Fister said, suspiciously.

“Yes.”

The big D’Haran officer frowned. “And what is this key to their victory that they will have within their grasp if they move swiftly enough?”

“Me, unconscious.”

Commander Fister blinked. “You. Unconscious.”

Richard nodded. “That’s right.”

Kahlan ran the fingers of both hands back into her hair, holding her head in barely contained exasperation. “Richard, that’s just plain crazy. I don’t even know where to begin with how crazy it is.”

She could see the anger—the fighting anger—of the sword in his eyes, as if she were looking into the depths of his soul.

“You heard the prisoner,” he said. “They can sense when I’m failing and especially when I’m unconscious. He said that they are waiting for me to falter and that was when they would take us. That is their strategy—to wait until I’m unconscious and then attack us. It’s a predator’s thinking, stalking and waiting until the prey is vulnerable. With me unconscious that’s when we are the most vulnerable. That’s what they are waiting for and that’s when they will be after us.”

“But you’re awake now,” Kahlan said. “You can keep the sword out.”

“That’s the tough part of the plan.”

Richard slid the sword back into its scabbard.

Kahlan gaped at him. “What are you doing?”

“Without the sword’s power, I will be unconscious within a few minutes. I can feel the poison waiting to take me into that darkness. It’s stronger this time. It’s growing in both of us.”

The commander was visibly alarmed. “Lord Rahl, that’s too risky. We can’t—”

“Listen to me,” Richard said, his voice still commanding even though it was swiftly beginning to lose its power now that he’d slid the sword home to extinguish its magic. “There isn’t much time. You need to listen to me.”

When Kahlan and the commander reluctantly fell silent, Richard went on. “The way it stands right now, we’re going to lose this battle fighting it this way. Kahlan and I are getting worse all the time. We are running out of time, and each time the poison overtakes us it is stronger. Death is not far off.

“We must act while we still can.”

Richard swept an arm out at the defensive line of the desperate battle. “If we keep fighting them like this, by their rules, we will lose. We have to change the rules.”

Commander Fister hooked a thumb behind his belt. “All right, what’s your plan, then? What do you propose to do?”

“Get half the men positioned up on the sides of the gorge. Do it now. It won’t be long until I’m unconscious. The Shun-tuk will be able to sense when that happens.

“We have one horse left. Once I’m unconscious, lay me over the horse and secure my body. With the remaining half of the men, run up through the chasm with the horse carrying me. Run like you’re trying to get away.

“The Shun-tuk will think our men are panicking. Run up the gorge like you’re taking me and fleeing for your lives. Leave the rest of the men behind, hiding up on the hillsides out of sight until the Shun-tuk pass. Even if they sense them, they will likely think they are some of the men breaking ranks and running away to hide and save themselves. They will sense that the main group of souls has me with them and they are running away up the gorge, trying to escape.

“If you do a convincing job of running, like you’re trying to get the incapacitated, unconscious Lord Rahl away from mortal danger, they will chase us. They behave like any predator. Once predators start chasing prey, they have tunnel vision centered on their prey. They will be focused on the prey and ignore everything else.

“If I’m unconscious, they will come after me.

“Then, once they come after us up into the ravine and the men on the slopes shut the back door to that narrow space, have Zedd lay down wizard’s fire back down the gorge. It will be much more devastating in such a confined space.

“Some of them, though, are immune to such magic, so that’s when you have the men turn and come in from both ends. In that narrow gorge you can cut the rest of those with occult power to pieces. They may not be vulnerable to magic, but they bleed and die just like anyone else.”

“All right, Lord Rahl, but what if you’re wrong and they do sense the men hiding there waiting to spring the trap? Then what?”

Richard was shaking his head. “No. This is the dance with death. You give the enemy the one thing he wants more than anything else, dangle it in front of him, and he will abandon his sense of caution to go after it. I am that one thing, the thing that their spirit king sent them for. Just as importantly, if they think they can eliminate me, that will give them the chance to feed on the rest of you.

“They know that if they can get me when I’m incapacitated then they can also get the rest of you. If they see that chance to have it all running away from them, they must chase it down.”

“So you really plan to be unconscious during this battle?” Commander Fister asked, incredulous.

Kahlan was beside herself. “If you’re unconscious, you will be defenseless.”

“Yes, exactly. I have to be unconscious for them to sense that I am vulnerable. It has to be that way if we want it to work. Samantha and the sword helped give me just enough strength to be able to stay conscious long enough to give you the plan. But I can feel that inner darkness overcoming me as I speak. This time, you have to let it take me.

“You have to let me go for now, then throw me over the horse and get moving. The rest of you will have to carry out the plan without me.”

“But—” the commander started.

The power of the sword that had been so evident in his gray eyes was gone. His eyes were becoming glassy. Kahlan recognized the sickness coming over him. She was on the verge of panic. On the one hand she knew that Richard was right and that he was giving them the best chance of survival.

But on the other hand … it was Richard who would be unconscious, completely helpless, and most at risk. And that was not even taking into account him flirting with the call of death that would be trying to use this opportunity to finally take him.

“Once we get through the gorge, after you cut them to ribbons, then have Zedd and Nicci do their best to revive me,” Richard told them.

Kahlan didn’t think he sounded sure that they would be able to, this time. If they survived the battle. If Richard wasn’t captured. Even if everything went as he planned, it might by then be too late for Zedd and Nicci to revive him. He could die.

“Lord Rahl, I can give you strength now,” Samantha said, clearly on the verge of panic. He had always been her strength and she couldn’t stand the thought of losing that rock in her world.

“Not this time,” he told her. “This is our only chance.”

Kahlan could feel tears welling up in her eyes. “Richard …”

He gripped her arm as he sank to one knee. “Don’t waste this chance. Do as I say. Do it now. I’m counting on you.”

Richard pulled Kahlan closer. “Once they have me secured over the horse, then take my sword. You are going to need it.” He managed to give her a wink. “Just don’t run me through with it this time.”

Commander Fister caught Richard as he fell forward and held him upright on his knees. Richard’s head hung. He was already unconscious.

The commander looked over at Kahlan. “Did anyone ever tell you that you married a crazy man?”

Kahlan couldn’t manage to smile in order to go along with his grim attempt to lighten the terror of the situation.

“He’s not crazy. He has just given us all our only chance.”

The commander hoisted Richard’s limp body up, pulling one arm around his broad shoulders.

“Samantha,” Kahlan said as she gestured, “get one of those men right there to bring the horse immediately. Tell the other two to help the commander with Richard.”

As Samantha raced off to get help, Kahlan turned to Commander Fister. “You had better protect him and keep him alive until Zedd and Nicci can heal him. I’m counting on you.”

The commander nodded. “You have my oath, Mother Confessor. No one will get near him as long as I’m alive.”

Kahlan held back her tears. There was too much to do to give in to emotion.

“One condition in all of this, Mother Confessor,” the commander said. “I’m not telling Zedd and Nicci about this plan. You have to tell them. If I tell them, they will fry me up and have me for breakfast.”

That time Kahlan finally managed a brief smile as she saw men running toward them. One of them tugged the horse along behind.

CHAPTER 21

Two of the soldiers helped Commander Fister lift Richard’s limp body over the back of the horse while the other held the reins. Seeing Richard in this condition was sobering for the men. This was the Lord Rahl who had believed in them, liberated them from servitude to Darken Rahl, and then led them through the long and terrible war with the Old World. He had survived countless dangers and done the impossible—brought peace and prosperity they had never imagined possible in their lifetimes. Now, he was unconscious and the situation looked grim.

After getting Richard laid over the back of the mare, the men helped the commander quickly lash him down with ropes. They didn’t pause to ask questions. The men of the First File stayed focused and did their job regardless of what was going on.

Commander Fister seized one of the men, Sergeant Remkin, by the shoulder. “How many men do we have left?”

“Before the battle we had close to a hundred. I know that I’ve seen some go down, though I don’t know how many we’ve lost, but there has to be something less than that by now.”

“All right. Get three dozen men together as fast as you can.” The commander pointed with his sword. “We’re going to take Lord Rahl and the Mother Confessor around the side of the cliff over there and up the gorge. Divide the men. You take half up on the slope to the far side. Have them spread out and hide on the hillside.” He gestured to the other man. “Jenkins, you take the other half onto the left slope and do the same—spread out and hide.”

The sergeant glanced back in the darkness to appraise the barely visible pass. “Consider it done, Commander. Then what?”

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