Faith of the Fallen (Sword of Truth 6)

The feeling began to return to Zedd’s fingers. He wiped a bead of sweat from the side of his forehead. He was able to draw an easier breath. “Well, that only makes sense. If they are as large a force as Warren says, then any direct attack would be foolhardy.”

It did make sense. Zedd wondered, though, why Richard would make such a point of it to a man of General Reibisch’s experience. Perhaps Richard was only being cautious. There was nothing wrong with being cautious.

Adie slipped her hand under Zedd’s and cuddled her loose fist under his palm. “If you believe you must let Richard be in this, then you will stay? Help teach the gifted here what they must know?”

Every face was etched with concern as they watched him, hanging on what he might decide. The general idly stroked a finger down the white scar on the side of his face. Sister Philippa knitted her fingers together. Verna and Warren entwined theirs.

Zedd smiled and hugged Adie’s shoulders. “Of course I’m not going to abandon you.”

The three on the bench opposite him each let out a little sigh. Their posture relaxed as if ropes around their necks had been slackened.

Zedd passed a hard look among them all. “War is nasty business. It’s about killing people before they can kill you. Magic in war is simply another weapon, if a frightening one. You must realize that it, too, in this, must be used for the end result of killing people.”

“What do we need to do?” Verna asked, clearly relieved that he had agreed to stay, but not to the obvious extent of General Reibisch, Warren, or Sister Philippa.

Zedd pulled some of his robes from each side of his legs over into the middle, between them, as he gave the question some thought. It was not the sort of lesson he relished.

“Tomorrow morning, we will begin. There is much to learn about countering magic in warfare. I will teach all the gifted some things about the awful business of using what you always hoped to use for good, for harm, instead. The lessons are not pleasing to endure, but then, neither is the alternative.”

The thought of such lessons, and worse, the use of such knowledge, could not be pleasant for any of them to contemplate. Adie, who knew a little bit about the horrific nature of such struggle, rubbed his back in sympathy. His heavy robes stuck to his skin. He wished he had his simple wizard’s robes back.

“We will all do as we must to prevent our own people from falling to the monstrous magic of the Imperial Order,” Verna said. “You have my word as Prelate.”

Zedd nodded. “Tomorrow, then, we begin.”

“I fear to think of magic added to warfare,” General Reibisch said as he stood.

Zedd shrugged. “To tell the truth, the ultimate object of magic in warfare is to counter the enemy’s magic. If we do our job properly, we will bring balance to this. That would mean that all magic would be nullified and the soldiers would then be able to fight without magic swaying the battle. You will be able to be the steel against steel, while we are the magic against magic.”

“You mean, your magic won’t be of direct help to us?”

Zedd shrugged. “We will try to use magic to visit harm on them in any way we can, but when we try to use magic as a weapon, the enemy will try to counter ours. Any attempt to use their power against us, we will try to counter. The result of magic in warfare, if properly and expertly done, is that it seems as if magic did not exist at all.

“If we fail to rise to the challenge, then the power they throw at us will be truly horrific to witness. If we can best them, then you will see such destruction of their forces as you can’t imagine. But, in my experience, magic has a way of balancing, so that you rarely see such events.”

“A deadlock, then, is our goal?” Sister Philippa asked.

Zedd turned his palms up, moving his hands up and down in opposition, as if they were scales holding great weight. “The gifted on both sides will be working harder than they have ever worked before. I can tell you that it’s exhausting. The result, except with small shifts in the advantage, is that it will seem as if we are all doing nothing to earn our dinner.”

Zedd let his hands drop. “It will be punctuated with brief moments of sheer horror and true panic when it seems beyond doubt that the world itself is about to end in one final fit of sheer madness.”

General Reibisch grinned in an odd, gentle, knowing way. “Let me tell you, war, when you’re holding a sword, looks about the same way.” He held up a hand in mock defense. “But I’d rather that, I guess, than have to swing my sword at every magic mosquito that came along. I’m a man of steel against steel. We have Lord Rahl to be the magic against the magic. I’m relieved we have Lord Rahl’s grandfather, the First Wizard, to aid us, too. Thank you, Zedd. Anything you need is yours. Just ask.”

Verna and Warren added silent nods as the general stepped to the entrance of the tent. When Zedd spoke, General Reibisch turned back, gripping the flap in one hand.

“You’re still sending messengers to Richard?”

The general confirmed that they were. “Captain Meiffert was up there, too. He might be able tell you more about Lord Rahl.”

“Have all of the messengers returned safely?”

“Most of them.” He rubbed his bearded chin. “We’ve lost two, so far. One messenger was found by chance at the bottom of a rockslide. Another never returned, but his body wasn’t found—which wouldn’t be unusual. It’s a long and difficult journey. There are any number of hazards on such a journey; we have to expect we might lose a few men.”

“I’d like you to stop sending men up there to Richard.”

“But Lord Rahl needs to be kept informed.”

“What if the enemy should capture one of those messengers and find out where Richard is? If you have no scruples, most any man can eventually be made to talk. The risk is not worth it.”

The general rubbed his palm on the hilt of his sword as he considered Zedd’s words. “The Order is far to the south of us—way down in Anderith. We control all the land between here and the mountains where Lord Rahl is staying.” He shook his head in resignation at Zedd’s unflinching gaze. “But if you think it’s a concern, I’ll not send another. Won’t Lord Rahl wonder, though, what’s going on with us?”

“What’s going on with us is not really relevant to him right now; he is doing as he must do, and he can’t allow our situation to influence him. He has told you already that he won’t be able to give you any orders, that he must stay out of it.”

Zedd tugged his sleeves straight and sighed as he thought about it. “Perhaps when the summer is over, before the full grip of winter descends and they’re snowed in way up there, I’ll go and see how they fare.”

General Reibisch gave a departing smile. “If you could talk to Lord Rahl, it would be a relief for us all, Zedd; he would trust your word. Good night, then.”

The man had just betrayed his true feelings. No one in the tent really trusted what Richard was doing, except, perhaps, Zedd, and Zedd had his doubts, too. Kahlan had said that she believed Richard viewed himself as a fallen leader; these people who claimed not to understand how he could believe such a thing, at the same time didn’t trust his actions.

Richard was all alone with only the strength of his beliefs to support him.

After the general had gone, Warren leaned forward eagerly. “Zedd, I could go with you to see Richard. We could get him to tell us everything, and we could then determine if it really is a prophecy, or as he says, just an understanding he’s come to. If it’s not really a prophecy, we might be able to make him see things differently.

“More important, we could begin teaching him—or you could, anyway—about his gift, about using magic. He needs to know how to use his ability.”

As Zedd paced, Verna let out a little grunt to express her misgivings about Warren’s suggestion. “I tried to teach Richard to touch his Han. A number of Sisters attempted it, too. No one was able to make any progress.”

“But Zedd believes a wizard is the one to do it. Isn’t that righ

t, Zedd?”

Zedd halted his pacing and regarded them both a moment as he considered how to put his thoughts into words. “Well, as I said before, teaching a wizard is not really the work for sorceresses, but another wizard—”