“You are hardly useless,” Verna objected. “You helped with a number of things we found in the books.”
Adie held up a hand to silence her. “You would have figured it out without me. I be useless here. I be an old woman who be underfoot.”
“That’s hardly true, Adie. All of the Sisters value your knowledge. They’ve told me so.”
“Maybe, but I would feel better if I felt I had a purpose rather than wandering around this, this”—she again gestured vaguely around her—“great stone maze.”
Verna sadly relented. “I understand.”
“I’ll miss you,” Berdine said.
Adie nodded. “True. And I shall miss you, too, child, and the talks we’ve had.”
Cara cast a suspicious look at Berdine but said nothing.
Adie reached out and gripped Nyda’s shoulder. “Nyda be here for you.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep her company,” Nyda said as she gazed at Berdine. “I won’t let her get lonely.”
Berdine smiled appreciatively at Nyda and nodded to Adie.
“We’re surrounded by more enemy men than stars in the sky,” Cara said. “How do you expect that a blind woman is going to get through all of them?”
Adie pursed her lips as she gathered her thoughts. “Richard Rahl be a smart man, hmm?”
Cara looked surprised by the question, but she answered it anyway. “Yes.” She folded her arms. “Sometimes too smart for his own good.”
Adie smiled at the last part. “He be smart, so you always follow his orders?”
Cara snorted a brief laugh. “Of course not.”
Adie’s eyebrows lifted in mock wonder. “No? Why not? He be your leader. You just said that he be a smart man.”
“Smart, yes. But he doesn’t always see the danger around him.”
“But you do?”
Cara nodded. “I can see danger he cannot.”
“Ah. So you can see dangers that his sighted eyes cannot?”
Cara smiled. “Sometimes Lord Rahl is as blind as a bat.”
“Bats also see in the dark, do they not?”
Cara sighed unhappily. “I suppose so.” She went back to the subject at hand. “But Lord Rahl needs me to see the dangers all around him that he can’t see.”
With a long, thin finger, Adie tapped Cara’s temple. “You see with this, yes? See the dangers to him?” Adie arched an eyebrow. “See dangers that eyes alone cannot see? Sometimes not having eyes lets me see more.”
Cara frowned. “That may all be well and good, but still, how do you think you are going to be able to get past the Order’s army? Surely you can’t be thinking of trying to walk through the camp.”
“That be exactly what I must do.” Adie waved a finger toward the ceiling. “There be clouds today. Tonight will be a dark night. With the thick overcast, once the sun goes down and before the moon rises, it be black as pitch. On such a night, those with eyes cannot see, but I be sighted in the darkness in ways they are not. I will be able to walk among them and they will not see me. If I keep to myself, and keep away from those who are awake and watchful, I will be no more than a shadow among shadows. No one will pay me any mind.”
“They have fires,” Berdine pointed out.
“The fire will blind their eyes to what be in the darkness. When there is fire men watch what is in the light, not what is in the darkness.”
“And what if by chance some of those soldiers do happen to see you, or hear you, or something?” Cara asked. “Then what?”
Adie smiled just a little as she leaned toward the Mord-Sith. “You would not want to meet a sorceress in the dark, child.”
Cara looked worried enough by the answer not to object.
“I don’t know, Adie,” Verna said. “I really would like you to be here, and safe.”
“Let her go,” Cara said.
When everyone looked at her in surprise, she went on. “What if she’s right? What if Lord Rahl does show up at the Keep? He will need to know everything that has happened. He will need to know that he shouldn’t enter the Keep or he could get himself killed by the traps Zedd set in the place.
“What if Lord Rahl needs her help? If she thinks he might need her, then she should be there for him. I wouldn’t want anyone to stop me from helping him.”
“Besides,” Berdine said as she shared a sad look with the old sorceress, “there is nothing safe about this place. She will probably be safer than any of us here. When that army down there finally gets in the palace, it’s going to be anything but safe in here. It’s going to be one long bloody nightmare.”
Adie smiled as she reached out and touched Berdine’s cheek. “The good spirits will watch over you, child, and all those here.”
Verna wished she believed that.
She wondered what she was doing being the Prelate of the Sisters of the Light if she didn’t.
Chapter 32
As he finished touching up their red battle paint, Richard tried not to let the men see how painful his injuries really were. He didn’t want anything to distract them from the job ahead.
His ankle throbbed, his left shoulder was sore, and the hits he’d taken to his head had left his neck muscles aching. After the brief but furious fight he hadn’t been able to get much sleep. As far as he could tell, though, nothing was broken.
He mentally set the pain and weariness aside. It didn’t matter if he hurt, or if he was tired. He had a job to do. It only mattered if he did it, if he succeeded.
If he failed he would have all eternity to sleep.
“Today we have our chance for glory,” Johnrock said.
Richard, holding Johnrock’s chin, turned the man’s head to the side a little so that he could see better in the failing light. He didn’t say anything. He leaned to the side and dunked his finger in the bucket of red paint and then added a symbol for watchfulness above the one for power that was already there. He wished he knew a symbol for common sense so he could paint it all over Johnrock’s skull.
“Don’t you think, Ruben?” Johnrock pressed. “Today we have our chance for glory?”
The rest of the men all listened quietly for what Richard might say.
“You know better, Johnrock. Get those thoughts out of your head.”
Richard paused in his work and swept the finger, coated in fresh red paint, around at all the eyes watching him.
“All of you know better, or at least you should. Forget thoughts of glory. Those men on the emperor’s team aren’t thinking of glory right now—they’re thinking of killing you. Do you understand that? They want to kill you.
“This is a day we have to fight to stay alive. That’s the glory I want: life. That’s the glory I want for all of you. I want you to live.”
Johnrock’s face twisted in disbelief. “But Ruben, after those men tried to bash in your head last night you must want to settle the score.”
The men all knew about the attack. Johnrock had told them all about it—told them how their point man had fought off five of the big men all by himself. Richard hadn’t disputed the account, but he wasn’t letting on as to how much he hurt. He wanted them worrying about their own necks, not wondering if he could hold up his end.
“Yes, I want to win,” Richard said, “but not for glory, or to settle a score. I’m a captive. I was brought here to play. If we win I live—simple as that. That’s all that really matters: living. Ja’La players—both captives and soldiers—die in games all the time; in that sense we are equals. The only true glory in winning in these games is the part about living.”
Some of the other captive men nodded their understanding.
“Aren’t you just a little worried about defeating the emperor’s team?” Bruce, his left wing man, asked. “Beating the emperor’s team might not be the right thing to do. After all, they represent the power of the Imperial Order, and the emperor. Beating them might be seen as prideful and arrogant, even sacrilegious.”
All eyes turned to Richard.
Richard met the man’s gaze. “I thought that under the Order’s teachings everyone was equal.”
Bruce stared back a moment. A smile finally spread across his face. “You have a point, Ruben. They are just men, like us. I guess we ought to win, then.”
“I guess so,” Richard said.
At that, just as Richard had taught them, the men, as one, let out a collective bellow of agreement, a brief, deep roar of team spirit. It was a small thing, but it served to bond the men, to make them feel that, while they were all very different individuals, they all had a common goal.
“Now,” Richard went on, “we haven’t seen the emperor’s team play, so we don’t know their tactics, but they’ve watched us play. As far as I’ve been able to tell, teams don’t usually change the way they play, so they will be expecting us to do the same things they’ve seen us do in the past. That’s going to be one of our advantages.
“Remember the new plays we devised for each signal. Don’t fall back to the old plays for a signal or it will cross us up. Those new tactics are our best chance to keep them off balance. Concentrate on doing your part in each of those moves. That’s what will get us points.
“Remember, too, that these men, besides wanting to win, are going to be trying to hurt us. The teams we’ve been playing knew that what they gave they got back double. These men are different. They know that if they lose they will be put to death, just like the emperor’s last team was when they lost. They have no incentive to play clean. They have every incentive to try to tear our heads off.
“There is no doubt in my mind that they’re going to try to take out our players, so be ready for it.”
“You’re the one they’re going to be trying to take down,” Bruce pointed out. “You’re the point man. You’re the one they need to stop. They even tried to eliminate you last night before you could reach the Ja’La field.”
“That’s all true, but as point man I at least have you and Johnrock protecting me. Most of you men have no protection but your wits and your skill. I think they’re just as likely to go after one of you, first, so don’t let your guard down for a second. Keep an eye on each other and intervene if need be.”
In the distance Richard could hear the rhythmic chanting of countless soldiers eager for the match to start. It sounded like the entire camp was chanting. Richard suspected that every man not forced to work on the ramp, while if not all able to actually see the match, would probably at least be waiting for word to relay back to them.
More men than usual were going to be able to see this game because the emperor had directed the work gangs, who needed material for the ramp anyway, to scoop dirt from a large area to create a bowl in the Azrith Plain. The new Ja’La field, with its vast, gently sloped sides, would enable far more men than ever before to be able to watch Ja’La games.
Richard had thought that their game with the emperor’s team would have been held that afternoon, that it would have already taken place, but the day had worn on as other teams played in games leading up to the match for the championship. The games, after all, were show for the soldiers. The new Ja’La field was the emperor’s statement—right below the People’s Palace—that the Order was here to stay and now owned the place.
Richard glanced up at the iron gray overcast. The last feathery violets of the sunset had vanished. It was going to be a dark night.
Richard hadn’t counted on it being this late when the game started, but night suited him just fine. In fact, it was the one unexpected bit of good fortune in the face of the monumental obstacles that lay before him. He was used to the dark. As a woods guide he often walked the trails of his woods with only the moon and stars to light his way. Sometimes it was just stars. Richard was comfortable in darkness.
There was more to seeing than just using one’s eyes.
While in some ways those times in the woods seemed like only days ago, in other ways it also seemed like forever ago, almost like another life. He was a long way from his Hartland woods. A long way from the peace and security he had known.
A long way from having the woman he loved back in his arms.
As Richard was finishing with Johnrock’s paint, he spotted Commander Karg making his way through the ring of guards. After their complicity in the treachery of the night before, the men involved stayed well clear of the scowling officer. There were a few new faces among the guards, no doubt more trusted overseers. Commander Karg was leading an escort of troops, men dedicated to watching over the captive players to make sure that they played Ja’La and nothing more.
Mostly, though, the soldiers were there to watch over Richard. They were his special guards.
Last in line to be freed from his bonds, Richard was finally able to rub his sore neck after Commander Karg finally unlocked his iron collar. Without the heavy chain weighing him down, Richard felt light, almost as if he might float up into the air. It gave him a feeling of being weightless and inhumanly fast. He embraced the sensation, making it part of him.
The chanting of the soldiers in the distance had a primeval feel to it. It was beyond eerie. It gave Richard goose bumps.
The spectators were expecting blood.
This night, they were going to get their wish.
As he followed Commander Karg, leading his team toward the Ja’La field, Richard put the growing noise out of his mind. He found a quiet center of focus.
As they moved through passages in the encampment lined with throngs of soldiers, hands all around reached out, wanting to touch the members of the team as they passed. Some of the men on Richard’s team smiled, waved, and touched the extended hands of the soldiers. Johnrock, being the biggest man and easy to spot, was the center of much of the attention. He grinned, waved, shook hands, and soaked it all in as he marched along. It seemed to Richard that what Johnrock had always wanted more than anything else was the adoration of the crowd. He loved pleasing them.
Words of both encouragement and hatred cascaded in from all sides. Richard turned his eyes ahead, ignoring the soldiers and shouting as he passed.
“Are you nervous, Ruben?” Commander Karg asked over his shoulder.
“Yes.”
Karg gave him a patronizing smile. “That will go away when it starts.”
“I know,” Richard said as he glared out from under his brow.
The vast depression of the Ja’La field was a cauldron of noise, the spectators a froth of faces over a churning sea of black.
The crowd out beyond the dense ring of flickering torches at the edge of the field chanted—not words, but a guttural grunt meant to express not only encouragement for the players but for the spectacle itself. In time with the chanting the throng stamped a foot. The deep, primordial noise could be not only heard, but felt in the ground beneath Richard’s feet, almost like rolling thunder. The effect was deafening and, in a way, intoxicating.
It was a primal call to violence.
Richard was already lost to those feelings. He let the raw, savage sounds feed those passions he had already unleashed within himself. As he made his way through the seething masses of men, he was in his own private world, lost to inner drives.
Commander Karg brought the team to a halt at one end of the field just before the torches. Richard saw archers, with arrows nocked, stationed all around the field. Near midfield, to his right, he spotted the area reserved for the emperor.
Jagang wasn’t there.
Richard’s insides tightened with a knot of panic. He had thought that, surely, Jagang would be at this game, that Kahlan would be near.
But the roped-off section was vacant.
Richard schooled his emotions, setting aside his dismay. Jagang would not miss this game. Sooner or later he would show up.
When the emperor’s team strode onto the opposite end of the field the crowd erupted in a thunderous roar. These men were the best the Order had to offer. They were heroes to countless thousands of spectators. These were the men who could vanquish all who came before them, the players who
crushed all opposition, the champions who were most deserving of victory. Many regarded the team as a tangible representation of their own power and virility.
As Richard and his men waited outside the torches, the other team, looking not merely determined but dangerous, stalked around the perimeter of the field, acknowledging the roar of the crowd with nothing more than bloodthirsty looks. The crowd loved such a visage of hate and menace, of things to come.
When the emperor’s team finished circling the field and finally gathered toward the other side of the field to wait for the challengers, the archers and other dedicated guards parted. Commander Karg waved Richard and his team through the gap in the line. As Richard passed, the commander whispered a warning to Richard that he had better win.
Richard stepped out onto the field. His concern for his plan was eased when the resounding cheers for his team were nearly as deafening as they had been for the emperor’s team. In the many games they had played since coming to the Imperial Order’s encampment, Richard’s team had won every game, and in so doing the respect of many. It didn’t hurt that Richard was well known for having killed an opposing point man. Probably even more than that, though, was the sight of the team covered with frightening designs in red paint. It was theater that fit the games. Richard was counting on that support.
He was also troubled when he finally got a good look at all of his opponents. They were some of the biggest men Richard had ever seen. They reminded him of Egan and Ulic, the personal guards to the Lord Rahl. It occurred to Richard that he could use Egan and Ulic right about then.
Leaving his men gathered at the end of the field, Richard crossed the empty ground alone to the referee at center field with the fistful of straws. The point man for the emperor’s team waiting beside the referee looked to be nearly a foot taller than Richard. His neck started at his ears and just kept getting wider until it met shoulders half again as wide as Richard’s.
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