Naked Empire

by Angreal

  Her mouth fell open. "Really, Zedd?"

  Zedd grinned at the look on her face. "Really."

  "Maybe I can bounce it in the dark hall that makes the funny noises. Then it wouldn't bother you any more than now."

  "This old place is full of funny noises—and a bouncing ball isn't liable to cause too much trouble."

  She climbed up in his lap and put her little arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

  "It's a lot better hugging you now that you found those things to get that awful collar off your neck."

  Zedd rubbed her back as she hugged him. "Yes, it is, little one; yes, it is."

  She leaned back and looked at him. "I wish Richard and Kahlan could be here to play with the ball, too. I miss them something fierce."

  Zedd smiled. "Me, too, little one. Me, too."

  She frowned at him. "Don't get tears, Zedd. I won't make a lot of noise to bother you."

  Zedd shook a bony finger at her. "I'm afraid you have a lot to learn about playing with a ball."

  "I do?"

  "Of course. Laughing goes with playing with a ball like biscuits go with stew."

  She frowned at him, not sure if he was telling the truth.

  He set her on the floor. "Tell you what. Why don't you come with me and I'll show you."

  "Really, Zedd?"

  Zedd stood up and mussed her hair. "Really."

  He scooped the ball off the table. "Let's see if you can show this ball how to have a good time."

  * * *

  CHAPTER 66

  Richard rested his back against a rock in the shade of a stand of white oaks as he gazed off at the line of silver maples shimmering in the breeze. The air smelled fresh after the rain of the day before. The clouds had moved on and left a clear, bright blue sky behind. His head finally felt clear, as well.

  It had taken three days, but he was finally recovered from the effects of the poison. His gift had not only helped bring Kahlan back from the brink, but himself as well.

  The people of the town of Witherton were just beginning to try to put their lives back together. With all the people they'd lost, it was going to be difficult for them. There were gaping holes where there used to be friends or members of families. Still, now that they were free there was the beginning of a vibrant sense of their future being better.

  But just because they were free, that did not mean they would stay that way.

  Richard gazed up the broad valley beyond the town. People were out working with their crops and tending to the animals. They were going back to their lives. He was impatient to be on his way, and back to his own life. This place had kept them from important business, from people who had been waiting for them.

  He guessed that this place had been important business as well. It was hard telling what this all had begun, or what the future would hold.

  For sure, the world would never be the same.

  Richard saw Kahlan coming out through the gate, Cara beside her. Betty frolicked along at their side, eager to see where they were going. Jennsen must have let the goat go for a romp. Betty had grown up and spent her entire life on the move. She'd never stayed in one place for long. Maybe that was why she always wanted to follow Richard and Kahlan. She recognized family and wanted to be with them.

  "So, what's she going to do?" Richard asked Kahlan as she came close and set her pack down beside Richard's.

  "I don't know." With the flat of her hand to her brow, Kahlan shielded her eyes from the sunlight. "I think she wants to tell you first."

  Cara set her pack beside Kahlan's. "I think she's torn and doesn't know what to do."

  "How do you feel?" Kahlan asked as she reached down and with her fingertips rubbed the back of his shoulder. Her gentle touch was a calming connection.

  Richard smiled up at her. "I keep telling you, I'm fine."

  He tore off a strip of dried venison and chewed as he watched Jennsen, Tom, Owen, Marilee, Anson, and a small group of the men finally emerge through the gates and make their way across the waving field of waist-high green grass.

  "I'm hungry," Kahlan said. "Can I have some?"

  "Sure." Richard pulled strips of the meat from his pack, stood, and handed a piece to both Kahlan and Cara.

  "Lord Rahl," Anson said, waving, as the group joined Richard, Kahlan, and Cara in the shade of the oaks, "we wanted to come out to say good-bye and see you off. Maybe we will walk with you toward the pass?"

  Richard swallowed. "We'd like that."

  Owen frowned. "Lord Rahl, why are you eating meat? You just healed your gift. Won't you harm your balance?"

  Richard smiled. "No. You see, incorrectly trying to apply a false notion of balance was what caused the problem I was having with my gift."

  Owen looked puzzled. "What do you mean? You said that you must not eat meat as the balance to the killing you sometimes must do. After the battle at the fortification, don't you need to balance your gift all the more?"

  Richard took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he gazed out over the mountains.

  "You see, the thing is," Richard said, "I owe you all an apology. You all listened to me, but I didn't listen to myself.

  "Kaja-Rang tried to help me with the words revealed on the statue, the words I told you—Deserve Victory. They were, first of all, meant for me."

  "I don't understand," Anson said.

  "I told you that your life is your own to live and that you have every right to defend it.

  "Yet, I was telling myself that I had to balance the killing I did to defend my life and the lives of my loved ones by not eating meat—in essence, saying my self-defense, my killing of those who attack me and other innocent people, was morally wrong, and so for the killing I'd done I needed to make amends to the magic that helped me by offering it the appeasement of balance."

  "But your sword's magic didn't work, either," Jennsen said.

  "No, it didn't, and that should have been the thing that made me realize what the problem was, because both my gift and the sword's magic are different entities, yet they reacted logically to the same unreasoned action on my part. The sword's magic began to fail because I myself, by not eating meat, was saying that I did not completely believe that I was justified in using force to stop others who initiate violence.

  "The sword's magic functions through the belief structure of the sword's owner; it only works against what the Seeker himself perceives as the enemy. The sword's magic will not work against a friend. That was the key I should have understood.

  "When I thought that the use of the sword had to be balanced, I was, in effect, expressing a belief that my actions were in some way unjustified. Therefore, because I held that remnant of faith in a false concept that had been inculcated in me throughout my life, just as all the people of Bandakar were taught—that killing was always wrong—the sword's magic began to fail me.

  "The Sword of Truth's magic, as my gift, could only again be viable when I comprehended—completely—that the magic needs no balance for the killing I've done because the killing I've done is not only moral, but the only moral course of action I could have taken.

  "By not eating meat, I was acknowledging that some part of my mind believed the same thing that the people here in Bandakar believed when we first met Owen and his men—that killing is always wrong.

  "By thinking that I must not eat meat as a balance, I was denying the moral necessity of self-preservation, denying the essential of protecting the value of life. The very act of seeking 'balance' for what I'm right in doing is a conflict which is what was causing the headaches and also caused the Sword of Truth's power to fail me. I was doing it to myself."

  Richard had violated the Wizard's First Rule by believing a lie—that it was always wrong to kill—because he feared it was true. He had also violated the Second Rule, among others, but most grievous of all, he had violated the Sixth Rule. In so doing, he had ignored reason in favor of blind faith. The failure of his gift and the sword's power was a direct result of no
t applying reasoned thought.

  Fortunately, with the Eighth Rule, he had come to reexamine his actions and finally realized the flaw in his thinking. Only then was he able to correct the situation.

  In the end, he had fulfilled the Eighth Rule.

  Richard shifted his weight to the other foot as he gazed at the faces watching him. "I had to come to understand that my actions are moral and need no balance, but are in themselves balanced by my reasoned actions, that killing is sometimes not only justified, but the only right and moral thing to do.

  "I had to come to understand the very thing I was asking all of you to understand. I had to understand that I must deserve victory."

  Owen looked over at those with him and then scratched his head. "Well, considering everything, I guess we can understand how you could make such a misjudgment."

  Jennsen, her red hair standing out against the green of the trees and fields, squinted at him in the sunlight. "Well," she said with a sigh, "I'm glad to be pristinely ungifted. Being a wizard sounds awfully hard."

  The men all nodded while voicing their agreement.

  Richard smiled at Jennsen. "A lot of things in life are hard to figure out. Like what you've been considering. What have you decided?"

  Jennsen clasped her hands and glanced over at Owen, Anson, and all the rest of the people with them.

  "Well, this is no longer a banished empire. It's no longer an empire naked to the aggression of tyrants. It's part of the D'Haran Empire, now. These people want the same as us.

  "I think I'd like to stay with them for a while and help them come to be part of the wider world, just as I've been starting to do. It's kind of exciting. I'd like to take your suggestion, Richard, and help them in that."

  Richard smiled at his sister. He ran his hand down her beautiful red hair.

  "On a condition," she added.

  Richard let his hand drop back. "Condition?"

  "Sure. I'm a Rahl, so ... I was kind of thinking that I ought to have some proper protection. I could be a target, you know. People want to kill me. Jagang would love to—"

  Richard laughed as he drew her into a hug with one arm to silence her.

  "Tom, being as you are a protector to the House of Rahl, I'm assigning you to protect my sister, Jennsen Rahl. It's an important job and it means a great deal to me."

  Tom lifted an eyebrow. "Are you sure, Lord Rahl?"

  Jennsen swatted him with the back of her hand. "Of course he's sure. He wouldn't say it unless he was sure."

  "You heard the lady," Richard said. "I'm sure."

  The big blond D'Haran smiled with a boyish grin. "All right, then. I swear I will protect her, Lord Rahl."

  Jennsen gestured vaguely back at the men and the town behind her.

  "Since I've been with them, they have come to see that I'm not a witch, and Betty is not a spirit guide—although for a time there I was afraid they might be right about Betty."

  Richard peered down at the goat. Betty cocked her head. "I guess none of us but Betty knew the truth of what Nicholas was up to." At the sound of her name, Betty's ears pricked forward and her tail went into a fit of expectant wagging.

  Jennsen patted Betty's round middle. "Now that these people understand that I'm not a witch, but I do share some of their traits, I suggested I might play an important role." She drew the knife at her belt and held it up, showing Richard the ornate letter "R" engraved on the silver handle. "I suggested that I be the official representative of the House of Rahl—if you approve."

  Richard grinned. "I think that's an excellent idea."

  "I think that would be wonderful, Jennsen." Kahlan pointed to the east with her chin. "But don't wait too long before you get back to Hawton to see Ann and Nathan. They will be a valuable help in insuring that the people here are no longer the prey of the Imperial Order. They will help you."

  Jennsen twisted her fingers together. "But aren't they going to want to be going with the both of you? Helping you?"

  "Ann thinks she should direct Richard's life," Kahlan said. "I don't think some of her directions have been the best thing." She slipped her arm through Richard's. "He is the Lord Rahl, now. He needs to do things his way, not theirs."

  "They both feel responsible for us," Richard explained. "Nathan Rahl is a prophet. Prophecy, because of the way it functions, actually does require balance. The balance to Prophecy is free will. I am the balance. I know those two don't like it, but I think I need to be free of them—for now. at least.

  "But there is more to it. I think it's more important that they help the people here, first. We already know the uses to which Jagang will put the pristinely ungifted. I think it's vital that these people here, who are willing to value and protect the freedom they've won, are given some guidance in how to do that.

  "Ann and Nathan will be able to set up defenses that will help protect the people here. They will also be valuable in teaching you the history that is important for you to know."

  After Richard picked up his pack and slipped his arms through the straps, Owen gripped Richard's hand. "Thank you, Lord Rahl, for showing me that my life is worth living."

  Marilee stepped forward and hugged him. "Thank you for teaching Owen to be worthy of me."

  Richard laughed. Owen laughed. Cara gave Marilee an approving clap on the back. And then all the men laughed.

  Betty pushed in and with a flurry of tail wagging got the point across that she didn't want to be left out.

  Richard knelt down and scratched Betty's ears. "And you, my friend, from now on I don't want you letting any Slides using you to spy on people."

  Betty pushed her head against his chest as he scratched her ears, and bleated as if to say she was sorry.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 67

  Alone at last beneath the vast blue sky, the soaring walls of snowcapped mountains, and in among the trees, Richard felt good about being on their way. He would miss Jennsen, but it was only for a time. It would do her good to be on her own, yet among people also discovering how to live their own lives as they learned more about the wider world. He knew he would not trade away all he had learned since he'd left his sheltered life in Hartland. If not for that, he wouldn't be with Kahlan.

  It felt good to walk and stretch his legs. He hitched his bow up higher on his shoulder as they made their way through the dappled sunlight of the hushed forest floor. After being so close to death as well as to losing his ability to see, he found everything more vibrant. The mosses looked more lush, the leaves more shimmery, the towering pines more awe-inspiring.

  Kahlan's eyes seemed more green, her hair softer, her smile warmer.

  As much as he at one time had hated the fact that he had been born gifted, he was now relieved to have his gift back. It was part of him, part of who he was, part of what made him the individual he was.

  Kahlan had once asked him if he wished she had been born without her Confessor's power. He had told her that he would never wish that, because he loved her for who she was. There was no way to separate out the parts of a person. That was to deny their individuality. He was no different. His gift was part of who he was. His abilities touched everything he did.

  His problem with his gift was of his own making. The magic of the Sword of Truth had helped him understand that by failing him. In so doing, it had revealed his own failure to recognize the truth.

  To have it back at his hip, and to know that it was once again in harmony with him and ready to defend him and those he loved, was a comforting feeling—not because he wished to fight, but because he wished to live.

  The day was warm and they made good time climbing the rocky trail up into the pass. By the time they reached the crown of the notch through the formidable mountains, it was colder, but without a biting wind it was not unpleasant.

  At the top of the pass they stopped to gaze up at the statue of Kaja-Rang, sitting where it had been for thousands of years, all alone, keeping vigil over an empire of those who once could not see evil.
/>   In some ways, the statue's presence was a monument to failure. Where Kaja-Rang and his people had failed to get these people to see the truth, Richard had succeeded—but not without Kaja-Rang's help.

  Richard put his hands on the cold granite, on the words—Taiga Vassternich—that had helped save his life.

  "Thank you," he whispered up at the face of the man staring off toward the Pillars of Creation, where Richard had discovered his sister.

  Cara placed her hands over the words, and Richard was surprised to see her look up at the statue and say, "Thank you for helping to save Lord Rahl."

  After they started descending the pass, first crossing the open ledges and then making it down into the dense woods, Richard heard the call of a pewee, the signal he had taught Cara that had served them so well.

  "You know," Cara said as she led them down the rocky ground beside a small stream, "Anson knows a lot about birds."

  Richard stepped carefully among the tangle of cedar roots. "Really."

  "Yes. While you were recovering we spent time talking." She put a hand against the fibrous bark of the reddish trunk of a cedar to keep her balance. She pulled her long blond braid forward over her shoulder as she started out again, running her hand down the length of the braid.

  "He complimented me on my bird whistle," Cara said.

  Richard glanced to Kahlan. She shrugged to let him know that she didn't have any idea what Cara was getting at.

  "I told you that you learned it well," Richard said.

  "I told him that you taught it to me, that it was the call of the short-tailed pine hawk. Anson said that there wasn't any such bird as a short-tailed pine hawk. He said the call I used as a signal—the call you taught me—was a common wood pewee. Me, a Mord-Sith, using the call of a bird named a pewee. Imagine that."

  They walked in silence for a moment.

  "Am I in trouble?" Richard finally asked.

  "Oh, yes," Cara answered.

  Richard couldn't help smiling but he made sure the Mord-Sith didn't see it, nor. did Cara see Kahlan look back over her shoulder with the special smile she gave no other but him.