“What if we choose neither? It is against our principles to fight. We want to be left alone to go about our lives. What if we choose not to fight, to simply go about our business?”
“Do you arrogantly believe that we want to fight because we would stop the slaughter, and you are somehow better because you wish not to? Or that we will carry the load by ourselves so that you, too, may enjoy the freedom to live by your principles?
“You can contribute in other ways without taking up a sword, but contribute you must. You can help tend the wounded, you can help the families of men gone to fight, you can help build and maintain roads to get supplies to them; there are any number of ways you can help, but you will help. You will pay the tax, the same as everyone else. There will be no bystanders.
“If you choose not to surrender, you will stand alone. The Order intends to conquer all people and lands. Because there is no other way to stop them, I can intend no less. Sooner or later, you will be ruled by one of us. Pray it is not the Order.
“Those lands that choose not to surrender to us will be placed under blockade and isolated until we have time to invade and conquer you, or the Order does. None of our people will be allowed to trade with you, under penalty of prosecution for treason, and you will not be allowed to transport trade or travel through our land.
“The opportunity of surrender I give now carries incentives: you will be able to join us without prejudice or sanctions. Once this peaceful offer to surrender has expired, and it becomes necessary to conquer you, you will be conquered, and you will surrender, but the terms will be harsh. Every one of your people will pay triple the tax for a period of thirty years. It wouldn’t be fair to punish future generations for the actions of this. Neighboring lands will prosper and grow, while you do not, burdened as you will be with higher costs to your surrender. Your land will eventually recover, but you will probably not live long enough to see it.
“Be warned: I intend to wipe the butchers called the Imperial Order from the face of the land. If you do more than try to stand aside, and are foolish enough to join with them, then you cast your fate with theirs; no mercy will be granted.”
“You can’t get away with this,” an anonymous voice in the crowd called out. “We’ll stop you.”
“The Midlands is fragmented, and cannot be made whole again, or I would instead join with you. What is past, is past, and cannot be returned.
“The spirit of the Midlands will live on with those of us who honor its purpose. The Mother Confessor committed the Midlands to war without mercy against the tyranny of the Imperial Order. Honor her command and the ideals of the Midlands in the only way that will succeed: surrender to D’Hara. If you join with the Imperial Order, then you stand against everything the Midlands represented.
“A force of Galean soldiers, led by the Queen of Galea herself, hunted down the butchers of Ebinissia, and killed them to a man. She has shown us all that the Imperial Order is vincible.
“I am engaged to wed the queen of Galea, Kahlan Amnell, and join her people to mine, and thereby show all that I will not stand for the crimes committed, even if they were committed by D’Haran troops. Galea and D’Hara will be the first to join in the new union, through Galea’s surrender to D’Hara. My marriage to her will show all that it will be a union made of mutual respect, demonstrating that it can be done without blood conquest or the lust for power, and instead for strength and a hope of a new and better life. She, no less than I, intends to annihilate the Imperial Order. She has proven her heart with cold steel.”
The crowd, both those on the main floor, and those in the balconies, started crying out questions and demands.
Lord Rahl shouted them down. “Enough!” The people grudgingly fell silent once more. “I have heard all I intend to hear. I have told you the way it will be. Do not mistakenly think I will tolerate the way you behaved as nations of the Midlands. I will not. Until you surrender, you are all potential enemies, and will be treated as such. Your troops will at once surrender their weapons, one way or another, and will not be allowed to leave the custody of the D’Haran troops now surrounding your palaces.
“Each of you will send a small delegation to your homeland to convey my message as I have told it to you today. Don’t think to try my patience; delay could cost you everything. And do not think to wile me out of special conditions—there will be none. Each land, whether large or small, will be treated the same, and must surrender. If you choose to surrender, we welcome you with open arms, and expect you to contribute to the whole.” He looked to the balconies. “You, too, have been charged with a responsibility: contribute to our survival, or leave the city.
“I am not pretending it will be easy; we stand against a foe without conscience. The creatures on the poles outside were sent against us. Consider their fate, while you think on my words.
“If you choose to join with the Imperial Order, then I pray the spirits will be kinder to you in the afterlife than I will be in this.
“You may go.”
13
The guards crossed their pikes before the door. “Lord Rahl wishes to speak with you.”
None of the other guests remained in the room; Brogan had held back to the last in order to see if any would seek a private audience with Lord Rahl. Most had left in great haste, but a few had lingered, as Brogan had thought they would. Their polite inquires were turned away by the guards. The balconies, too, had been emptied.
Brogan and Galtero, with Lunetta between, crossed the expanse of marble to the dais, accompanied by their footsteps echoing around the dome, along with the metallic clatter of the armor from the guards behind them. Lamplight cast a warm glow in the immense, ornate, stone room. Lord Rahl leaned back in the chair to the side of the Mother Confessor’s chair and watched them come.
Most of the D’Haran soldiers had been dismissed, along with the guests. General Reibisch stood to the side of the dais, his face grim. The two huge guards to the ends, and the three Mord-Sith beside Lord Rahl watched, too, with the silent intensity of coiled vipers. The gar towered behind the chairs, watching with glowing green eyes as they came to a halt before the desk.
“You may go,” General Reibisch said to the remaining soldiers. After clapping a fist to their hearts, they departed. After Lord Rahl had watched the tall double doors close, he looked to Galtero, Brogan, and then let his gaze settle on Lunetta.
“Welcome. I am Richard. What is your name?”
“Lunetta, Lord Rahl.” She giggled as she performed an unpracticed curtsy.
Lord Rahl’s gaze shifted to Galtero, and Galtero shifted his weight to his other foot. “I apologize, Lord Rahl, for nearly trampling you, today.”
“Apology accepted.” Lord Rahl smiled to himself. “See how easy that was?”
Galtero said nothing. Lord Rahl at last looked to Brogan, his expression turning serious.
“Lord General Brogan, I want to know why you have been abducting people.”
Tobias spread his hands. “Abducting people? Lord Rahl, we have done no such thing, nor would we.”
“I doubt you are a man who tolerates evasive answers, General Brogan. We have that in common.”
Tobias cleared his throat. “Lord Rahl, there must be some misunderstanding. When we arrived here in Aydindril in order to offer our assistance to the cause of peace, we found the city be in disarray and matters of authority in a state of confusion. We invited a few people to our palace in order to help determine what dangers be about, nothing more.”
Lord Rahl leaned forward. “About the only thing you were interested in was the execution of the Mother Confessor. Why would that be?”
Tobias shrugged. “Lord Rahl, you must realize that my whole life the Mother Confessor be the figure of authority in the Midlands. To come to find she may have been executed disturbs me greatly.”
“Nearly half the city witnessed the execution, and could have told you so. Why did you think it necessary to abduct people off the street to question them about i
t?”
“Well, people sometimes have different versions of events when asked separately—they remember events in different ways.”
“An execution is an execution. What is there to remember differently?”
“Well, from across a square, how could you tell who it was being led to the block. Only a few people near the front could have seen her face, and many of those would not know the face as hers even if they did see it.” Lord Rahl’s eyes weren’t losing their dangerous set, so he quickly went on. “You see, Lord Rahl, I had been hoping that the whole thing might have been a deception.”
“Deception? The people assembled saw the Mother Confessor beheaded,” Lord Rahl stated flatly.
“Sometimes people see what they think they will see. It be my hope that they did not really see the Mother Confessor executed, but perhaps just a show so that she could escape. At least that be my hope. The Mother Confessor stands for peace. It would be a great symbol of hope for the people if the Mother Confessor were still alive. We need her. I was going to offer her my protection, if she be alive.”
“Put the hope from your mind, and dedicate yourself to the future.”
“But surely, Lord Rahl, you must have heard the rumors of her escape?”
“I have heard no such rumors. And did you know the Mother Confessor?”
Brogan let an agreeable smile come to his lips. “Oh, yes, Lord Rahl. Quite well, in fact. She visited Nicobarese on any number of occasions, as we be a valued member of the Midlands.”
“Really?” Lord Rahl’s face was unreadable as he looked down from behind the desk. “What did she look like?”
“She was… well, she had…” Tobias frowned. He had met her but, strangely, he suddenly realized he couldn’t recall what she looked like. “Well, she is difficult to describe, and I am not good with that sort of thing.”