Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth 5)

“Culture carries no privilege to exist. Cultures do not have value simply because they are. Some cultures, the world is better off without.” She lifted an eyebrow. “I submit, for your consideration, the Imperial Order.”

Richard let out a long breath. “I see what you mean.”

He took a swig of water as she ate some more tava. It still seemed somehow wrong to him for a culture, with its own history and traditions, to be wiped out, but he understood, to an extent, what she was saying.

“So the Ander way of life ceased to be. You were saying, about the Haken system of justice?”

“Despite what we may now think of how they came to be there, the Hakens were a people who valued fairness. In fact, they considered it essential to an orderly and prosperous society.

“Thus, over time, subsequent generations of Hakens gave increasing freedoms to the Anders they had conquered, eventually coming to view them as equals. Those subsequent generations came to share sensibilities similar to ours, and also came to feel shame at what their ancestors had done to the Ander people.”

Kahlan gazed out over the plains. “Of course, it’s easier to feel shame if those guilty are centuries dead, especially when such discrediting, by default, confers upon yourself a higher moral standard without having to stand the test in the true environment of the time.

“Anyway, their adherence to their notion of justice turned out to be the beginning of the downfall of the Haken people. The Anders, because of their conquest, always hated the Hakens and never ceased to harbor a hunger for revenge.”

One of the hunters, who had been cooking up porridge, brought over a warm piece of tava bread cupped in each hand and heaped with thick steaming porridge. Kahlan and Richard each gratefully took the hot food and she thanked him in his language.

“So how could a Haken system of justice,” Richard said, after they each had eaten some of the porridge laced with sweet dried berries, “result in the Hakens now being virtual slaves because of the Anders’ sense of justice? That just doesn’t seem possible.”

He saw that Du Chaillu, wrapped in blankets beside the fire, wasn’t interested in porridge. Cara had steeped the tea with the bag of herbs, and was hunkered beside Du Chaillu, seeing to it that she at least sipped some from a small wooden cup.

“A system of justice was not the cause of the Haken downfall, Richard, merely a step along the way—one of the bare bones of history. I’m only telling you the salient points. The results. Such shifts in culture and society take place over time.

“Because of fair laws, the Anders were able to make advances that in the end resulted in them being able to seize power. Anders are no different than anyone else in their hunger for power.”

“The Hakens were a ruling people. How did it get from there to the other way round?” Richard shook his head. He had a hard time believing it was as the wizards portrayed it.

“There is more in the middle.” Kahlan licked porridge off a finger. “Once the Anders had access to fair laws, it became for them the sharp end of a wedge.

“Once folded into the society, Anders used their freedom to gain status. At first, it was participation in business, the labor trades which became guilds, and membership on small local councils, things like that. One step at a time.

“Make no mistake, the Anders worked hard, too. Because the laws became fair to all, they were able to gain through their own hard work the same sorts of things the Hakens had. They became successful and respected.

“Most importantly, though, they became the moneylenders.

“You see, the Anders, it turned out, had a talent for business. Over time they became the merchant class instead of simply the working class. Being the merchants enabled families, over time, to acquire fortunes.

“They eventually became moneylenders, and thus a financial power. A few large and extensive Ander families controlled much of the finances and were to a large extent the unseen power behind Haken rule. Hakens grew complacent, while the Anders remained focused.

“Anders also became teachers. Almost from the beginning, the Hakens considered teaching a simple role the Ander people should be allowed to fill, freeing Hakens for more adult matters of rule. The Anders took on all aspects of teaching—not just the teaching itself—incrementally gaining control of the instruction of fit teachers, and therefore of the curriculum.”

Richard swallowed a mouthful of porridge. “I take it that was, for the Hakens, somehow a mistake?”

With her half-eaten tava-bread plate of porridge, Kahlan gestured for emphasis. “Besides reading and math, the children were taught history and culture, ostensibly so they would grow up to understand their place in their land’s culture and society.

“The Hakens wanted all children to learn a better way than war and conquest. They believed the Ander teachings of brutal Haken conquest at the expense of noble Ander people would help their children to grow up to be civilized, with respect for others. Instead, the guilt it put on young minds contributed to the erosion of the cohesive nature of Haken society, and of respect for the authority of Haken rule.

“And then came a cataclysmic event—a ruinous decade-long drought. It was during this drought that the Anders finally made their move to oust Haken rule.

“The entire economy was based on the production of crops—wheat, mostly. Farms failed, and farmers were unable to deliver export crops for which the merchants had already paid them. Debts were called due as everyone tried to survive the hard times. Many without great financial resources lost their farms.

“There might have been government controls placed on the economic system, to slow the panic, but the ruling Hakens feared to displease the moneylenders who backed them.

“And then worse problems erupted.

“People began dying. There were food riots. Fairfield was burned to the ground. Haken and Ander alike rose up in violent lawless rioting. The land was in chaos. Many people left for other lands, hoping to find a new life before they starved.

“The Anders, though, used their money to buy food from abroad. Only the financial resources of the wealthy Anders could purchase food from afar, and it was that food supply that was the only hope of survival for most people. The Anders, with this supply of food from abroad, were seen as the hand of salvation.

“The Anders bought out failed businesses and farms from people desperate for money. The Anders’ money, meager as it was, and their food supply, was the only thing keeping most families from starving.

“It was then the Anders began to extract the true price, and their vengeance.

“The government, run by the Hakens, was blamed by the mobs in the streets for the starvation. Anders, with their merchant connections, fomented and spread the insurrection from place to place. Anarchy befell the land as the Haken rulers were put to death in the streets, their bodies dragged before cheering crowds.

“Haken intellectuals drew the blood lust of frightened people for somehow being responsible for the starvation. Well-educated Hakens were viewed as enemies of the people, even by the majority of Hakens who were farmers and laborers. The purge of the learned Hakens was bloody. In the rioting and lawlessness, the entire Haken ruling class was systematically murdered. Every Haken of accomplishment was suspect, and so put to death.

“The Anders swiftly ruined, by either financial means or violent mobs, any Haken business or concern left.

“In the vacuum, the Anders seized power and brought order with food for starving people, Ander and Haken alike. When the dust settled, the Anders were in control of the land, and with strong forces of mercenaries they could afford to hire, soon held the land in an iron grip.”

Richard had stopped eating. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. He stared transfixed as Kahlan swept her hand expansively in telling of the downfall of reason.

“Anders changed the order of everything, making black white and white black. They declared no Haken could fairly judge an Ander, because of the ancient Haken tradition of injus

tice to Anders. Conversely, Anders asserted, because they had for so long been subjugated by their wicked Haken overlords, that they understood the nature of inequity, and so would be the only ones qualified to rule in matters of justice.

“Woeful tales of Haken cruelty were the currency of social acceptance. Frightened Hakens, in an attempt to prove the horrific charges untrue, and avoid being singled out by the well-armed troops, willingly submitted to Ander authority and those merciless mercenaries.

“The Anders, so long out of power, were ruthless in pressing their advantage.

“Haken people were forbidden to hold positions of power. Eventually, supposedly because the Haken overlords required Anders to address those overlords by surname, even the right to have a surname was denied the Hakens, unless they somehow proved themselves worthy and received special permission.”

“But haven’t they intermixed?” Richard asked. “After all that time, didn’t the Haken and Ander people intermarry? Didn’t they all blend together into one people?”

Kahlan shook her head. “From the beginning, the Anders, a tall dark-haired people, thought wedding the redheaded Hakens was a crime against the Creator. They believe the Creator, in His wisdom, made people distinct and different. They didn’t believe people should interbreed like livestock being bred for a new quality—which was what the Hakens had done. I’m not saying it didn’t occasionally happen, but to this day such a thing is rare.”

Richard rolled up his last bite of tava with porridge. “So, what’s it like there, now?” He popped the bite in his mouth.