Naked Empire (Sword of Truth 8)

“You’re lying to me. Jagang sent you.”

The man fell to pitiful weeping. “No, Mistress! I’ve never had any dealings with His Excellency. The army is vast and far-flung. I take my orders from those in my section. I don’t think that the ones they take orders from, or their commanders, or even theirs, are worthy of His Excellency’s attention. His Excellency is far to the north, bringing the word of the Order’s salvation to a lawless and savage people; he would not even be aware of us.

“We are but a lowly squad of men with the muscle to snatch people the Order wants, either for questioning or to silence them. We are all from this part of the empire and so we were called upon because we were here. I am not worthy of the attention of His Excellency.”

“But Jagang has visited you—in your dreams. He has visited your mind.”

“Mistress?” The man looked terrified to have to question her rather than answer her question. “I don’t understand.”

Kahlan stared. “Jagang has come into your mind. He has spoken to you.”

He looked sincerely puzzled as he shook his head. “No, Mistress. I have never met His Excellency. I have never dreamed about him—I don’t know anything about him, except that Altur’Rang has the honor of being the place where he was born.

“Would you like me to kill him for you, Mistress? Please, if it is your wish, allow me to kill him for you?”

The man didn’t know how preposterous such a notion was; in his desire to please her, though, if she commanded it he would be only too happy to make the attempt. Kahlan turned her back on the man as Richard watched him.

She leaned toward Richard a bit as she spoke quietly, so the man wouldn’t hear. “I don’t know if those visited by the dream walker must always be aware of it, but I think they would be. The ones I’ve seen before were mindful of Jagang’s presence in their mind.”

“Couldn’t the dream walker slip into a person’s mind without their being aware of it just so he could watch us?”

“I suppose it’s possible,” she said. “But think of all the millions of people in the Old World—he can’t know whose mind to enter so he can watch. Dream walker or not, he is only one man.”

“Are you gifted?” Richard asked the man.

“No.”

“Well,” Richard whispered, “Nicci told me that Jagang rarely bothers with the ungifted. She said that it was difficult for him to take the mind of the ungifted, so he simply uses the gifted he controls and has them control the ungifted for him. He has all the Sisters he’s captured that he has to worry about. He has to maintain his control over them and direct their actions—including what we started to read in Nicci’s letter—about how he’s guiding the Sisters in altering people into weapons. Besides that he heads the army and plans strategy. He has a lot of things to manage, so he usually confines himself to the minds of the gifted.”

“But not always. If he has to, if he needs to, if he wants to, he can enter the minds of the ungifted. If we were smart,” Kahlan whispered, “we would kill this man now.”

As they spoke, Richard’s glare never left the man. She knew he would not hesitate to agree unless he thought the man might still be of use.

“I have but to command it,” Kahlan reminded him, “and he will drop dead.”

Richard took in her eyes for a moment, then turned back to the man and frowned. “You said someone named Nicholas sent you. Who is this Nicholas?”

“Nicholas is a fearsome wizard in the service of the Order.”

“You saw him. He gave you these orders?”

“No. We are too lowly for one such as he to bother with us. He sent orders that were passed down.”

“How did you know where we were?” Richard asked.

“The orders included the general area. They said that we should look for you coming north at the eastern edge of the desert wasteland and if we found you we were to capture you.”

“How did Nicholas know where we were?”

The man blinked, as if searching his mind to see if he had the answer. “I don’t know. We weren’t told how he knew. We were told only that we were to search this area and if we found you we were to bring you both in, alive. The commander who passed on the orders told me not to fail or the Slide would be very displeased with us.”

“Who would be displeased?…The Slide?”

“Nicholas the Slide. That is what he’s called. Some people just call him ‘the Slide.’”

Frowning, Kahlan turned back to the man. “The what?”

The man began trembling at her frown. “The Slide, Mistress.”

“What does that mean? The Slide?”

The man fell to wailing, his hands clasped together again as he begged her forgiveness. “I don’t know, Mistress. I don’t know. You asked who sent me, that is his name. Nicholas. People call him the Slide.”

“Where is he?” Richard asked.

“I don’t know,” the man blurted out as he wept. “I received my orders from my commander. He said that a Brother of the Order brought the orders to his commander.”

Richard took a deep breath as he rubbed the back of his neck. “What else do you know about this Nicholas, other than that he’s a wizard and he’s called ‘the Slide’?”

“I only know to fear him, as do my commanders.”

“Why? What happens if you displease him?” Kahlan asked.

“He impales those who displease him.”

With the stench of blood and burning flesh, along with the things she was hearing, it was all Kahlan could do to keep from being sick. She didn’t know how much longer her stomach could take it if they stayed in this place, if this man told her anything else.

Kahlan gently grasped Richard’s forearm. “Please, Richard,” she whispered, “this isn’t really getting us anything very useful. Please, let’s get out of here? If we think of anything, we can question him more later.”

“Get out in front of the wagon,” Richard said without hesitation. “I don’t want her having to look at you.”

The man bobbed his head and scrambled away.

“I don’t think Jagang is in his mind,” Kahlan said, “but what if I’m wrong?”

“For now, I think we should keep him alive. Out in front of the wagon, Tom will have a clear view of him. If we’re wrong, well, Tom is very quick with his knife.” Richard let out a shallow breath. “I’ve already learned something important.”

“What?”

His hand in the small of her back started her moving. “Let’s get going and I’ll tell you about it.”

Kahlan could see the wagon waiting in the distant darkness. Tom’s eyes followed the man as he ran out in front of the big draft horses and stood waiting. Jennsen and Cara were in the back of the wagon. Friedrich sat up on the seat beside Tom.

“How many?” Richard called to Cara as they approached the wagon.

“With the four out in the hills that Tom took care of, and this one, here, twenty-eight.”

“That’s all of them, then,” Richard said with relief.

Kahlan felt his hand on the small of her back slip away. He staggered to a halt. Kahlan paused beside him, not knowing why he’d stopped. Richard sank to one knee. Kahlan dropped down beside him, throwing an arm around him for support. He squeezed his eyes shut in pain. With his arm pressed across his abdomen, he doubled over.

Cara leaped over the side of the wagon and raced to their side.

Despite how exhausted Kahlan was, panic jolted her instantly to full alert. “We need to get to the sliph,” she said to Cara as well as Richard. “We need to get to Zedd and get some answers—and some help. Zedd can help.”

Richard drew labored breaths, unable to speak as he held his breath against a wave of agony. Kahlan felt helpless not knowing what to do to help him.

“Lord Rahl,” Cara said, kneeling before him, “you have been taught to control pain. You must do that, now.” She seized a fistful of his hair and lifted his head to be able to look into his eyes. “Think,” she

commanded. “Remember. Put the pain in its place. Do it!”