Into Darkness Read online

  “There can be no going south,” Shale said with a frown. “Not with that boundary wall of death thing.”

  “The boundary …” Kahlan’s brow twitched a little as she put a hand to her forehead. “That’s right. I seem to have forgotten that we had run into the boundary … .”

  “Lord Rahl found a trail leading to a pass over the mountains,” Vika said, hoping to dispel Kahlan’s sudden concern.

  Kahlan’s mouth fell open. “A trail over a pass? That would mean the boundary wouldn’t matter and we can cross the mountains here. That would get us directly to Aydindril.” She looked up hopefully. “If there is a pass, we could get over the mountains right away. That would significantly shorten our journey.”

  “The sooner the better,” Shale said. “You aren’t getting any less pregnant. I would feel a lot better if we weren’t out in the wilderness when the time comes to give birth.”

  Kahlan still seemed somewhat confused. “So then I’m all right? The twins are all right? Was I having some kind of trouble?”

  Some of the Mord-Sith exchanged glances. Everyone noticed that Kahlan seemed not to remember what had happened. Richard could see no reason to tell her how close she had come to losing the babies, to say nothing of her life. It would needlessly frighten her to know how grave the situation had been. From the looks on all the other faces, it seemed that none of the rest of them thought it would be a good idea to tell her, either.

  Berdine suddenly smiled brightly. “Lord Rahl found a plant that made you all well again.”

  Kahlan looked over at him and put a hand on his chest. “Was it any trouble?”

  “None at all,” Vika said from behind Richard.

  Richard wasn’t as happy about the pass as the rest of them. It seemed everything had been conspiring to force them to cross the mountains in this place. Someone was behind the strange woods they lost so much time in. Someone had usurped his ability and used it to put up those boundaries. Kahlan had begun to miscarry and he had to find a very rare plant to save her and the babies. There just happened to be some of those very rare mother’s breath plants up the mountain trail they just happened to come across.

  Whatever hidden hand was behind all of the recent events seemed determined to get them up into these mountains. And there just so happened to be an old trail for them to use.

  “As soon as we have something to eat then we should probably get going,” he said. “There is no telling how long this break in the weather will last. It would be good to make some distance while we have the chance.”

  She flashed him a smile. “I would like that. The sooner we are to Aydindril the better. I feel well rested. I’m up for some traveling.”

  “I’m afraid it’s going to be a difficult journey,” Richard cautioned her. “It’s a demanding climb from here to get to the trail, and the trail itself is not an easy one. I’m afraid that once we get to it, there is no way to take the horses up that trail and over that pass.”

  “Well,” she said, thoughtfully, “I expect the horses will enjoy their freedom. I’m sure they will be glad not to have to carry us and all our gear any longer.”

  Richard smiled. Kahlan always tried to find the bright side of things. He was sure she was worried about what lay ahead for them, but she didn’t want to show her concern. As the Mother Confessor, she always tried to keep everyone positive. Richard wasn’t feeling nearly so positive. As pregnant as she was, it was going to be a difficult journey on foot.

  Worse, he knew that they were being guided by a hidden hand.

  7

  Fat snowflakes drifted through the still, cold air, dissolving away the instant they touched Richard’s face and the backs of his hands. Dark, brooding clouds overhead seemed to hang still in the pass, casting the day in gloomy light. Richard could just make out the smell of woodsmoke. They all lay in a line on their stomachs in the fresh snow, heads just high enough to peek over the edge of the ridge in order to squint into the distance.

  Richard was not liking what he was seeing.

  “Why would such a strange place be way up here?” Rikka asked.

  Nyda pulled the small willow stick she had been idly chewing from her mouth. “Maybe it’s a stroke of luck.”

  “It’s not a stroke of luck,” Kahlan said, clearly as unhappy as Richard was at what they all saw in the distance.

  “Why not?” Nyda asked. “Shelter, warmth, food, rest. That sounds like a stroke of luck to me. What could be wrong with that?”

  “It’s a trap,” Richard said in a distracted voice as he peered into the distance. “That’s what’s wrong with it.”

  Nyda put her chew-stick back in her mouth as she let herself slide back down the snow-covered slope a little ways, retreating from the edge of the ridge so she could sit up without taking the chance of revealing herself to anyone beyond. She planted a boot against the base of a birch tree to halt her slide. “You really think so?”

  “Everything that has happened has contrived to put us up here, on this trail, with nowhere else to go,” Vika said with obvious displeasure as she looked over the edge of the ridge, watching into the distance with the rest of them. “Do you really think that coming upon this place is just chance?”

  Nyda sighed. “I suppose not.”

  “This is the trap that has been pulling us in ever since we left the People’s Palace,” Richard said.

  With a cunning look, Nyda spun her Agiel up into her fist. “Maybe I should go take a look.”

  “Not a good idea,” Vika said.

  Nyda dropped her Agiel, letting it hang from the gold chain around her wrist. She pulled the stick out of her mouth again. “Why not? A Mord-Sith might be the right thing to set the mood up there and change our luck.”

  Vika looked back over her shoulder. “The Law of Nines, remember? We need the nine of us to stay together.”

  “Vika is right,” Richard murmured as he watched for any sign of people. He was sure that the Golden Goddess was still searching for them, so he didn’t want anyone who might be out beyond to see them. There was no telling how many eyes the goddess could be looking through as she frantically hunted for him and Kahlan.

  The town in the distance, off through the heavy timber, had been built hard up against the pass, spanning the broad distance from one towering bluff to the other, some of the buildings piled up on top of one another in what looked like an unplanned, haphazard fashion, making them appear hunched together against the elements. It was hard to tell at such a distance, but it looked like there was a stone wall built all the way across the pass, entirely blocking the way through. He supposed it was possible it was simply built that way to take advantage of the lay of the land. But in his gut, he knew there was more to it.

  The massive fortress town grew right up behind the stone wall, the wall itself so high it rose up above some of the treetops. The tree line and barren ground above overlooked the town from each side of the wide pass.

  As far as Richard could tell, the only way over the pass was through that walled fortress. He had trouble imagining the reason for a fortress in such an isolated place. Of course, it was possible that it wasn’t really a fortress at all, and it only appeared that way from a distance. Again, his gut told him that wasn’t the case.

  Up inside the wall built across the pass and beyond the jumble of structures, he could just make out a much taller, more impressive-looking structure of some sort. It looked like maybe it was made from a pale-colored or white stone.

  It had to be a difficult life in such a remote place. As such, it seemed an odd place for a grand structure of any sort to be towering in its midst.

  Richard didn’t think there could be more than a few thousand people at most living in the town. The smell of woodsmoke told him that the place was not abandoned. If it was not abandoned, then the goddess might be able to use the people living there to finally spot and attack them.

  Unfortunately, the only way across the pass was to go through that fortress town.

&nbs
p; Kahlan put her hand on his forearm. “I don’t like it. Like you say, it’s a trap. Everything that has happened to us since leaving the People’s Palace has been leading us right to here.”

  Richard nodded. “I’m afraid you’re right.”

  She rolled a bit to the side, looking like it was uncomfortable to be lying on her swelled belly. “So what are we going to do about it?”

  In the middle distance, on the path leading through the snow-crusted trees and among the rocks rising up from the thick white blanket of snow covering the ground, and across another snow-covered rise, he could just make out the tracks of a big mountain lion. He didn’t have to wonder if it was the same one he and Vika had encountered when searching for the mother’s breath.

  “Well,” he finally said, “Zedd told me once that one should not willingly walk into a trap.”

  Shale scowled over at him. “Is that another one of your Wizard’s Rules?”

  Richard looked over and showed her a crooked smile. “If it isn’t, it should be.”

  “Is that all of what Zedd had to say about it?” Kahlan asked.

  “Actually,” Richard said, “the rest of it is ‘unless you have no other choice.’”

  “Well, it looks to me like this would qualify as ‘no other choice,’” she said.

  They all turned to look up at the gray clouds when rumbles of thunder echoed through the mountains. The low, ragged clouds that were silently gliding in obscured the higher peaks, and by the looks of them, they promised some bad weather.

  “I grew up in mountains like this,” Vika said. “Thunder and snow high up in the mountains are a worrisome pair.”

  “So what are we going to do?” Kahlan asked, ignoring Vika’s comment and obviously growing impatient. “I’m not in favor of walking into a trap. Someone wants my babies. I don’t intend to simply walk in there and hand them over or have them taken from me. But I’m cold and I want to get beyond these mountains and down into Aydindril, where it will be warmer. We can’t lie here forever watching that place.”

  Richard let out a long breath. The rising breeze carried away the cloud of that breath as he appraised her green eyes. “I agree.” He showed her a smile. “I have a plan.”

  Kahlan arched an eyebrow. “A good plan?”

  He wasn’t in the mood to debate the merits of it. He was more concerned about avoiding whatever kind of trap waited for them in the walled stronghold blocking the pass. He was also concerned about the way the wind was coming up and the weather was closing in. The night before had been miserable huddled in the protection of a quickly built pine-bough shelter, with no fire, as they ate some of their dwindling supply of dried meat and hard travel biscuits.

  “First,” he said, “I need to know if you’re up for a difficult attempt to get over these mountains in order to avoid walking into the trap that’s waiting for us.”

  Kahlan frowned at him. “What are you proposing?”

  Richard put an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close so she could sight down the length of his other arm to where he was pointing.

  “Look at that notch to the left side of the pass, just before the slope of the second mountain over starts to rise up again. See what I’m talking about?”

  Kahlan squinted into the distance. “I can’t tell for sure. You always could see better than me. And you know more about such country than I would.”

  “Well, there’s an indentation in the side of where that mountain rises up.” He gestured to indicate the slope on the left side of the pass. “That notch is higher than the pass with that walled town built across the trail, but it might be a way over the mountains without having to go through the town. See? Up there not far above the tree line.”

  “I see it,” Shale said as she pushed in close on the other side of him, finally seeing where he was talking about.

  “I see it too,” Vika offered.

  “What of it?” Kahlan asked. “What are you thinking?”

  “Like I said, it might be a way over the mountains. A way to skirt that walled fortress built across the pass.”

  “You mean a way to skirt that trap?” the sorceress asked.

  Richard nodded. “Yes. I think it could give us a way to avoid walking into a trap and instead go right around it. If it is a way across, we could avoid anyone seeing us, and we just might be able to make our own luck and get over the mountains and into Aydindril and then to the Wizard’s Keep.”

  “Then what are we waiting for?” Kahlan asked, blowing some warm breath into her cupped hands again.

  “I’m waiting for you to tell me that you’re up for it. It’s going to be a difficult climb. It’s not a trail, so we will have to make our own way. It will be hard climbing.”

  “I’m pregnant,” Kahlan said, “I’m not helpless, and I’m not eager to spend any longer up here than necessary. Let’s get going while we still have light.”

  8

  The light was fading fast by the time they got closer to the notch Richard had spotted from back in the forest. Some of the way was steep and dangerous. They had struggled to make it through the snow up above the tree line.

  In several places Richard had to climb up, lie on his stomach, and then reach down to help Kahlan, because her pregnancy made it more difficult for her to pull herself up, and also Berdine, because her arms weren’t long enough to reach the edge. Once, when there was no practical way around, Richard had to quickly fell a pair of trees so they could cross a deep chasm. As they got higher, frigid winds funneled through the canyons to sting their faces with ice crystals.

  In spots the thick blanket of snow hid deep ravines and rifts in the uneven, rocky ground. After Kahlan sank up to her armpits in one of those rifts, and he and Vika had to pull her up and out, Richard cut a long staff and took the lead, testing for ground under the way ahead to make sure it was solid. He cut a similar staff for Vika. She walked beside him, and together they tested the ground ahead. He had the rest of them follow in his and Vika’s footsteps so that they wouldn’t drop into a hole where they could easily be hurt, or worse.

  As they got closer to the towering mountain, it was easier to see the notch in its lower slopes. The sun was setting beyond, to the west, to where they needed to go, and even though it was cloudy, the brighter light of the western sky silhouetted the shape of the mountain to reveal the cut in the rock.

  “Numbers mean things, right?” Berdine asked as they trudged through the snow. “I mean, like the Law of Nines. You said before that numbers have meaning.”

  Richard looked back over his shoulder. “Yes, sometimes. Why?”

  Berdine squinted, shielding her eyes with a hand as she peered up at the gray sky. “Well, there are thirteen ravens circling us. Does that mean something? Thirteen?”

  “They’ve been following us since we left the trail,” Richard said.

  “Really? I didn’t notice them before,” Berdine said, her voice trailing off as she turned, looking up. “But now that they are overhead, I noticed them going around in a circle as they follow us. So, does it mean something that there are thirteen?”

  Richard poked his staff into the ground ahead, testing. “Hard to tell. A lot of numbers have meaning. Some are more important than others. It often has to do with circumstances surrounding the numbers or even the context that makes the number significant. I can tell you, though, that ravens are crazy smart, and they are as curious as cats.”

  “Oh,” Berdine said, not really knowing if that answered her question or not. “I just thought that maybe thirteen meant something.”

  Richard glanced back over his shoulder at the witch woman. Her face was unreadable. He decided not to get into it and instead started out again.

  Like the rest of them, he was bone-tired. Walking in deep snow was a lot of work. Kahlan was following behind Vika, trying to walk in her footsteps, but even though the person ahead was breaking a trail, it still took a grueling effort to pull each leg out of one hole and put it in the next. He could see that Kahla
n was near to dropping from exhaustion. He wanted to stop and rest, but with the day drawing to an end he knew she would want to keep going while they still could, and she would want even less for them to stop because of her.

  There was still enough light for them to see their way by the time they made it to the notch. As they worked deeper into the cut through the mountain he had seen earlier, sheer rock rose up to each side. It looked like slabs of the granite making up the mountain had broken off and fallen away, leaving the opening for them to make it through. The fractured rock created small shelves that allowed snow to build up, making white ledges that stood out against the gray rock.

  In the sky between the soaring granite walls, he could see the thirteen ravens circling high overhead. Sometimes ravens followed hikers, hoping to snatch small animals such as voles that were flushed out by the noise and vibration of people walking.

  He didn’t think these ravens were looking for voles.

  Richard was relieved to see ahead that there was easily going to be enough room for them to make it through the opening, although the snow had built up in the sheltered gap between sheer walls, making it deeper and progress even more difficult. But at least it was a way to finally get across the mountains and around the trap. With the light fading fast they were all eager to get through the opening before they had to stop for the night, so, despite their exhaustion, they pressed on through the deep snow.

  No one wanted to waste their breath to talk. No one wanted to give up until they were at last through. Each of them struggled to simply put one foot in front of the other.

  To make matters worse, the wind had picked up and snow was beginning to fall harder all the time. It collected on their eyelashes and it had to be blinked away to see.

  Every few difficult strides through the deep, packed snow, they had to pause to get their breath in the thin air of the higher altitude. They were all keen to get far enough to finally see beyond and confirm that they had indeed managed to find a way across the mountain range by skirting the trap of that strange fortress town across the pass.