The Third Kingdom Read online

“They’re ancient,” Richard said. “As far as I know, they were made ages ago by powerful wizards. I only know of a few, and they’re thousands of years old.”

  “There’s one at the People’s Palace,” Henrik said.

  “That’s right,” Richard said as he nodded. “The Garden of Life is a containment field.”

  Henrik squinted as he tried to recount it all accurately. “Nicci told Zedd that she needed a containment field to shield you and the Mother Confessor while she did what was needed. She said that she had to remove the touch of death lodged within you both.

  “She said that because the Grace was corrupted and twisted within you both by that infection, if they tried to remove it outside a containment field, then the call of death would draw the Keeper of the dead to you and both of you would die. She said that they could heal your other injuries, though, and they should do that right away to keep you alive until they could get back to the containment field.”

  Sammie was astonished by such exotic tales. “I would love to see a palace. I bet it’s magnificent. I never heard of a containment field before. What does it look like?”

  Richard gestured overhead. “This particular one at the People’s Palace is a beautiful garden with a glass roof and—”

  “Glass roof!” Sammie’s jaw fell open. “I’ve never even dreamed of such an incredible thing. I’d give anything to see such a grand palace.”

  “Maybe someday you can,” Richard said. He was impatient for Henrik to go on with the story. “Then what?”

  “Zedd said that they needed to hurry back to the palace, because you were both hurt so bad. He bent in over Kahlan, worried about the terrible wound on her stomach. Bouncing in the wagon made it open up and it was bleeding a lot. While he started to heal her, Nicci walked along on the other side of the wagon and reached down to start healing you, Lord Rahl.

  “Cara was relieved to see that Zedd and Nicci were finally working on healing you both, so she got up into the wagon’s seat and sat next to her husband, General Meiffert. She helped pull me up to sit next to her while Zedd and Nicci worked.”

  “So why didn’t they finish healing us?” Richard asked. “What happened to everyone?”

  Henrik looked like he wished he didn’t have to tell that part of the story.

  CHAPTER

  12

  Henrik’s face turned grim as he stared off into his memories.

  “Well,” he said at last as he went on with the account, “we were going as fast as General Meiffert said he dared push the horses. Everyone was worried about you and the Mother Confessor and they all wanted to get you out of the Dark Lands and back to the palace.

  “Zedd and Nicci both had to climb up in the wagon so they could work on healing you. Zedd cursed, then, and told them that they were going to have to slow down because the Mother Confessor was hurt bad and he needed to close up the wound, but he couldn’t do it when the wagon was bouncing around.”

  “Did they say anything at all about what they were going to do to heal them?” Sammie asked the boy as she eagerly leaned in. “Did they say how they were able to do it with that touch of death in them?”

  Henrik shook his head. “I don’t know anything about healing or how magic works. I only know that I heard Nicci say to Zedd that they could heal the injuries, but would have to leave the touch of death in them until they got to the palace and the containment field.”

  “That much of it is good news,” Richard told Sammie. “It confirms what I thought, that you can do a healing of the other problems even with what you saw in us.”

  She nodded in thought as she listened to Henrik go on.

  “It was getting dark. Zedd and Nicci bent over you both, using their gift to heal you.” As he stared off into his memories again, his voice occasionally broke. “As they worked, everyone else was keeping a close watch on the surrounding countryside. The Dark Lands are a dangerous enough place in the daylight, but everyone knows that out here you don’t want to be outside at night if you can help it.”

  Henrik idly fingered the edge of the coarse carpet they were sitting on. “I guess we couldn’t help it.”

  “I guess not,” Richard said, feeling guilty for being the one responsible for bringing his friends into the Dark Lands to help him.

  “We were going along for a while without talking, going pretty slow as Zedd had instructed so he and Nicci could concentrate on trying to heal both of you. Then, all of a sudden, they both looked up.”

  “At the same time?” Sammie asked.

  Henrik nodded.

  “If they both looked up at the same time it must be because they sensed something through their gift,” Sammie said to Richard.

  Richard only nodded, not wanting to interrupt Henrik’s story.

  “Zedd whispered to the general, up on the wagon seat on the other side of Cara from me, that there were people out there in the darkness. The general asked how many people. Zedd paused a moment, and then said, ‘A lot of people.’ I looked around but I couldn’t see anyone.”

  Henrik stared off into the distance, as if seeing it in his mind’s eye again. “Even though I couldn’t see them, it seemed as though I could feel their eyes watching us from back in the darkness of the trees. There was forest all around, and it gave whatever Zedd and Nicci sensed plenty of places to hide.

  “With the clouds, the moon didn’t provide much light. It was hard to see much of anything. Whoever was back in those dark woods, we couldn’t see them.”

  Henrik swallowed. “I was afraid. Really afraid. I think everyone kind of knew that we might be in some kind of trouble, but no one knew what to expect. I saw some of the soldiers get a better grip on their lances while others touched their swords, all of them making sure that their weapons were ready.

  “Then, all of a sudden, we saw movement off at the tree line to the right. Even as dark as it was, there was still enough light that we were able to see masses of people as they poured out of the woods. None of them made a sound as they came rushing out of the trees. They weren’t yelling battle cries or anything. That silence from those people made it even more frightening to watch them coming. There were so many that it looked like the ground was moving. I was scared to death.

  “Cara asked her husband if we shouldn’t try running with the wagon. Before the general could answer, Zedd spoke up to say that we couldn’t outrun them. He said that they were out ahead of us as well as behind. He said we were surrounded.

  “The soldiers pulled their horses around to shield the wagon. All the lancers formed an outer ring and lowered their lances toward the advancing horde. It was hard to imagine anyone trying to run up on those lancers.

  “At the same time, other men, in an inner ring behind the lancers, drew their swords. Yet others pulled battle-axes from hooks on their weapon belts. There weren’t a lot of soldiers with us and seeing how many people were rushing in toward us I wished there were more, but they were D’Haran soldiers, after all. Seeing all those big men draw their weapons made me think that maybe we had a chance.”

  They would not have been regular D’Haran soldiers. Richard knew that the men who had come from the palace with Zedd, Nicci, and Cara would have been men of the First File. The First File, led by General Meiffert, were the Lord Rahl’s personal guards at the People’s Palace. They weren’t simply the biggest and best of the D’Haran troops, they were the elite fighters. They were disciplined, skilled in combat, and prepared to fight. They lived for just this sort of duty. They had competed all their lives to earn their place at the point of the spear.

  “Zedd stood up in the wagon trying to see better,” Henrik said. “Nicci stood up too, growling in anger over having to stop working on healing you, Lord Rahl, saying that she needed more time. As people kept streaming out of the woods, all of them running toward us, Zedd told her that it looked to him like their time had run out.

  “General Meiffert told his men that he didn’t want to stand and fight, but it looked like they were going to have
to. Cara suggested putting you and the Mother Confessor over the back of horses. She said she and a couple soldiers could run for safety while the rest of the soldiers held the horde at bay. Zedd said in a low voice that it was a bad idea. When she asked why, he said that the worst thing you could do was run from predators because it excited them to chase. He said that there were people coming in from all directions and they would run down anyone who tried to get away.”

  The room was dead silent except for the soft, sputtering hiss of the candle flames. Sammie sat frozen, wide-eyed as she waited to hear what had happened next. Even Ester had stopped working. Her hand, holding a poultice, floated frozen above Kahlan.

  “Then Zedd threw his hands toward the sky, sending up a flare of light,” Henrik said. “At first, as it rose high up into the air, it was only a spark, but then it exploded into a bright, sparkling fire that lit the countryside all around.”

  Henrik’s eyes brimmed with tears. “In that flare of light, we could finally see the thousands and thousands coming for us. I saw not only men racing toward us, but women, too. Most of the men had no shirts and were bare-legged. I didn’t see any of them with swords or spears or shields. A lot of them had knives, though. So did the women. Our men were on horseback and had much better weapons. I would have felt better about that were we not so overwhelmingly outnumbered.

  “The fire that Zedd had sent up started to die out, and it was getting harder to see all the people racing toward us. As they got even closer, he tried to send up another flare of fire to replace the one that was fading, but nothing happened. Nicci asked what was wrong. Zedd looked confused. He stammered and said that he didn’t know. So Nicci tried then, but it didn’t work for her, either.”

  Henrik swallowed again and looked down for a moment. Richard put a hand on the boy’s shoulder but didn’t say anything, instead giving him the time to find his words.

  Henrik cleared his throat. “When they were close enough that they would be able to hear him, the commander of the cavalry stood in his stirrups and yelled at the people running in toward us, warning them to stop, to stay back, or they would die. It didn’t do any good.

  “All the people had been silent up till then, but after the general told them to stay back or they would die, they started yelling battle cries, like they were eager for such a fight. It wasn’t the battle cries of soldiers, but some kind of shrill shrieks. It sounded to me like they were evil spirits charging out from the world of the dead. Their yells all jumbled together into an eerie howl that made my hair stand on end.

  “When General Meiffert saw that they weren’t going to stop, and we could see the knives raised, there was no doubt that they intended to attack us, so he ordered the cavalry to cut them down before they could get too close. About half the men raced away across the open ground while the other half shielded the wagon.

  “The cavalry sliced into the leading edge of the swarm, cutting them down like scything down a wheat field at harvest. Even though it was dark, there was enough light from the moon that I could see people falling in great numbers.

  “I was relieved, thinking that such powerful cavalrymen would cause the attackers to break and flee in fright. But then I saw that the enemy didn’t fear the men on horseback. Most didn’t even cry out as they were cut down. Even though the cavalry was slicing down hundreds of enemy, it seemed that for every one that fell ten more appeared out of the trees.

  “Then I saw the first man unhorsed. He was a big man, fighting fiercely, cutting down attackers by the dozens as he charged through the leading edge of the enemy. Unafraid, the people paid no attention to the danger and swarmed in around him as he was attacking. He hacked them to pieces as they came. His horse trampled a number of them. But he was overwhelmed by the incredible numbers pressing in on him.

  “There were so many people piling in that there was no room for all those who were trying to get at him. They swarmed in, climbing over the backs of others both living and dead, trying to be the first to get at him. People were trampled and crushed by their own kind. None of them seemed to care about the dead and dying. They only cared about getting at the man on horseback.

  “Despite how the soldier and his powerful horse struggled and fought, the weight of all the people finally dragged the big animal to a stop. Even as other soldiers raced to try to help him, hacking at the enemy to get through, I saw dozens and dozens of arms flailing, stabbing at the horse until it went down.”

  Henrik swallowed again, and again wiped at his eyes. “Then they all piled on the man like a pack of wolves. The thing was, they weren’t stabbing at him, like they had been stabbing at the horse.”

  Sammie frowned when Henrik fell silent for a time. “What were they doing, then?”

  Richard knew the answer. It had almost happened to him.

  “The throng seized his arms, legs, even his hair, and from what I could see it looked like they were all ripping into him with their teeth. They were tearing into him like a pack of wolves on a lamb.”

  CHAPTER

  13

  Sammie glanced at the bleeding bite wound on Richard’s arm. “Just like the way they were starting to use their teeth when they attacked you, Lord Rahl.”

  “It would seem so,” Richard said, waiting for Henrik to gather his thoughts and go on.

  Richard knew that what he was hearing from Henrik about the bizarre attack fit with what he had overheard from the two men who had attacked him. As he had been waking up, he heard them talking about the Shun-tuk eating people. He remembered all too well seeing human bones and parts of D’Haran uniforms not far from the wagon. He didn’t know how many more such remains there might have been out in the darkness. He feared to imagine.

  From what Richard knew, as crazy as it sounded, the two men had thought they could somehow capture his soul by eating him. Had it not been for the people of Stroyza, they surely would have killed him in the attempt.

  “I saw more of our men going down,” Henrik said, his jaw trembling. “I heard some of those men scream in pain as they were pulled from their horses and torn apart while they were still alive and struggling.”

  “What about Zedd and Nicci?” Richard asked. “Weren’t they using their gift to try to stop this horde of people? I’ve seen Zedd use wizard’s fire on enemy troops. It’s devastating, even when the enemy was coming in great numbers like you describe. The two of them should have been able to do something.”

  Henrik wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Zedd was trying, Lord Rahl. As the charge of all those people got closer, more of our men joined the battle to try to fight them back and keep them away from you and the Mother Confessor in the wagon. The soldiers fought fiercely but the swarm of people were all howling like demons that had escaped the underworld and they just kept coming.

  “With all the yelling and screaming, it was hard to hear. But I did hear Zedd and Nicci talking. The two of them were pretty frantic to do something that would help keep the advancing people away. I don’t know much about such things and I didn’t hear all of what they were saying, but I could tell that they were both trying their best to conjure things and cast their power out to fight back the waves of people charging toward us. It seemed that nothing they were doing, though, was working the way they expected. I don’t know what was wrong, but I can tell you that as hard as they were trying, if their gift would have been working right they might have been able to stop the enemy.

  “Sometimes, though, something they did would work. At least, it worked to a degree. When nothing else seemed to work, I saw both Zedd and Nicci push their arms out together, with their palms raised, as if pushing against an invisible wall. When they did that, occasionally groups of people were thrown back and tumbled across the ground, knocking down others behind them. It blew them back like leaves in a gust of wind. While it did work, it only worked against small numbers at a time. It was taking them a lot of effort to do that much but it wasn’t nearly enough to cope with the endless numbers that were racing toward us across
the open ground.

  “Zedd looked over at Cara, then, and told her what even I could see, that something was wrong with their abilities and it wasn’t going to be enough. The general said that above all else they had to protect you, Lord Rahl, and the Mother Confessor. He told Zedd, then, that if they all took a stand to defend the wagon, the people coming for them would know that we were protecting something important.

  “Nicci asked what he was proposing. The general said that they had to abandon the wagon.

  “I thought Cara might break his neck for saying that. She yelled at him, saying that as long as she was alive and could fight, she wouldn’t leave you for anything. He shouted her down, saying that if they left the wagon, like it didn’t mean anything to them, and instead made it look like they were running to try to escape, then the enemy would come after them and leave the wagon, thinking it was unimportant. He said that they appeared to want to attack and kill them. He said that they weren’t dying by the hundreds just to steal what looked to be nothing more than an empty wagon.

  “Nicci said that he was right. Zedd said that he hated to admit it, but he agreed. He also said that they had better hurry and decide or it was going to be too late for the plan to do any good.

  “Cara’s jaw was clenched so tight she couldn’t speak. Her face was as red as her leather outfit. Finally, she growled and leaped down into the bed of the wagon. She hurried to unfurl an old tarp that was shoved in the corner and with Nicci’s help pulled it out and along the wagon bed, covering up the both of you so that it looked like it was just a mostly empty supply wagon.”

  Richard finally understood the mystery of why he and Kahlan were all alone in the back of the wagon, unconscious, lying under a tarp.

  “I don’t know that I would have thought of doing that,” Richard said. “Ben is a general for good reason. So what happened next?”

  “Cara lifted me off the wagon seat and set me down in the bed of the wagon with her. While her husband, Zedd, and Nicci jumped to the ground, she bent close and pointed her Agiel at my face. She told me to listen, and listen close. She quickly glanced toward a spot in the woods to the other side from most of the attackers, to where I didn’t see anyone.