Naked Empire (Sword of Truth 8)

By the look of the sheer walls of rock rising up into broken clouds to either side, Richard didn’t see any way, other than the pass, for people to make it over the imposing mountains, at least, not without a journey of tremendous difficulty, hardship, and probably a great loss of life. Even then, he wasn’t really certain that it was even possible.

In places, as they trudged up the edge of the steep rise, he could see back through gaps in the rock walls of the mountains, under the dark bottom of clouds, to sunlight beyond the pass.

None of them spoke as they climbed. From time to time they had to pause to catch their breath. They all kept an eye to the churning sky. Richard spotted a few small birds in the distance, but nothing of any size.

As they approached the top, following a zigzagging course so they could more easily make it up without having to scale rock faces of jutting ledges, Richard caught glimpses of the statue sitting on a massive base of granite.

From the high vantage point in the pass, he could now see that the rock on either side of the rise fell away in precipitous drops. The gorge at the bottom of either side dead-ended at vertical climbs of what would have to be thousands of feet. Whatever routes might have branched off lower down, they would have to converge before going up this rise; by the lay of the land, it became clear to him that this was the only way to make it through this entire section of the pass.

He realized that anyone approaching Bandakar by this route would have to climb this ridge in the rise, and they would unavoidably come upon the monument.

As he mounted the final cut between the snow-dusted boulders standing twice his height, Richard was able at last to take in the entire statue guarding the pass.

And guarding the pass it was. This was a sentinel.

The noble figure sitting atop a vast stone base was seated as he watchfully guarded the pass. In one hand the figure casually held a sword at the ready, its point resting on the ground. He appeared to be wearing leather armor, with his cape resting over his lap. The vigilant pose of the sentinel gave it a resolute presence. The clear impression was that this figure was set to ward what was beyond.

The stone was worn by centuries of weather, but that weathering failed to wear away the power of the carving. This figure was carved, and it was placed, with great purpose. That it was out in the middle of nowhere, at the summit of a mountain pass no longer traveled and a trail possibly abandoned after this was set here, made it, to Richard, all the more arresting.

He had carved stone, and he knew what had gone into this. It was not what he would call fine work, but it was powerfully executed. Just looking at it gave him goose bumps.

“At least it doesn’t look like you,” Kahlan said.

At least there was that.

But this thing being there all alone for what very well might have been thousands of years was worrisome.

“What I’d like to know,” Richard said to her, “is why this second beacon was down there, down the hill, in that cave, and not up here.”

Kahlan shared a telling look with him. “If Jennsen hadn’t done what she did, you would never have found it.”

Richard walked around the base of the statue, searching—for what he didn’t know. Almost as soon as he started looking, he saw, on the front of the base, on the top of one of the decorative moldings, an odd void in the snow. It looked as if something had been sitting there and had then been taken away. It was a track, of sorts, a telltale.

Richard thought the barren spot looked familiar. He pulled the warning beacon from his pack and checked the shape of the bottom. His thought confirmed, he placed the figure of himself in the void in the snow collected on the rim of the base. It was a perfect fit.

The little figure had been here, with this statue.

“How do you think it came to be down in the cave?” Cara asked in a suspicious voice.

“Maybe it fell,” Jennsen offered. “It’s pretty windy up here. Maybe the wind blew it off and it tumbled down the hill.”

“And just managed to roll through the woods without being stopped by a tree, and then, neat as can be,” Richard said, “roll right into the small opening of the cave, and then just happened to come to be stuck in the rock right near where you, by coincidence, ended up stuck. Stuck, I might add, in a terrifying place you aren’t terrified of.”

Jennsen blinked in wonder. “When you put it like that…”

Standing at the crown of the pass, in front of the statue right where the warning beacon would have rested, and now again rested, Richard could see that the spot held a commanding view of the approach to Bandakar. The mountains blocking off the view to either side were as formidable as anything he’d ever seen. The rise where the sentinel sat overlooked the approach into the pass back between those towering, snowcapped peaks. As high as they were, they were still only at the foothills of those mountains.

The statue was not looking ahead, as might be expected of a guardian, but rather, its unflinching gaze was fixed a little to the right. Richard thought that was a bit odd. He wondered if maybe it was meant to show this sentinel keeping a vigilant eye on everything, on every potential threat.

Standing as he was, directly in front of the statue’s base, in front of where the warning beacon sat, Richard looked to the right, in the direction the man in the statue was looking.

He could see the approach of the pass up through the mountains. Farther out, in the distance, he could see vast forests to the west, and beyond that, the low, barren mountains they had crossed.

And, he could see a gap in those mountains.

The eyes of the man in the statue were resolutely fixed upon what Richard now saw.

“Dear spirits,” he whispered.

“What is it?” Kahlan asked. “What do you see?”

“The Pillars of Creation.”

Chapter 35

Kahlan, standing beside Richard, squinted into the distance. From the base of the statue they had a commanding view of the approaches from the west. It seemed as if she could see half a world away. But she couldn’t see what he saw.

“I can’t see the Pillars of Creation,” she said.

Richard leaned close, having her sight down his arm where he pointed. “There. That darker depression in the expanse of flat ground.”

Richard’s eyes were better at seeing distant things than were hers. It was all rather hazy-looking, being so far away.

“You can recognize where it lies by the landmarks, there”—he pointed off to the right, and then a little to the left—“and there. Those darker mountains in the distance that are a little higher than the rest have a unique shape. They serve as good reference points so you can find things.”

“Now that you point them out, I can see the land where we traveled from. I recognize those mountains.”

It seemed amazing, looking back on where they’d been, how high they were. She could see, spread out into the distance, the vast wasteland beyond the barren mountain range and, even if she couldn’t make out the details of the dreadful place, she could see the darker depression in the valley. That depression she knew to be the Pillars of Creation.

“Owen,” Richard asked, “how far is this pass from your men—the men who were hiding with you in the hills?”

Owen looked baffled by the question. “But Lord Rahl, I have never been up this portion of the pass before. I have never seen this statue. I have never been anywhere close to here before. It would be impossible for me to tell such a thing.”

“Not impossible,” Richard said. “If you know what your home is like, you should be able to recognize landmarks around it—just as I was able to look out to the west and see the route we traveled to get here. Look around at those mountains back through the pass and see if you recognize anything.”

Owen, looking skeptical, walked the rest of the way up behind the statue and peered off to the east. He stood in the wind for a time, staring. He pointed at a mountain in the distance, through the pass.

“I think I know tha

t place.” He sounded astonished. “I know the shape of that mountain. It looks a little different from this spot, but I think it’s the same place I know.” He shielded his eyes from the gusts of wind as he gazed to the east. He pointed again. “And that place! I know that place, too!”

He rushed back to Richard. “You were right, Lord Rahl. I can see places I know.” He stared off then as he whispered to himself. “I can tell where my home is, even though I’ve not been here. Just by seeing places I know.”

Kahlan had never seen anyone so astounded by something so simple.

“So,” Richard finally prompted, “how far do you think your men are from here?”

Owen looked back over his shoulder. “Through that low place, then around that slope coming from the right…” He turned back to Richard. “We have been hiding in the land near where the seal on our empire used to be, where no one ever goes because it is near the place where death stalks, near the pass. I would guess maybe a full day’s steady walk from here.” He suddenly turned hesitant. “But I am wrong to be confident of what my eyes tell me. I may just be seeing what my mind wants me to see. It may not be real.”

Richard folded his arms and leaned back against the granite base of the statue as he gazed out toward the Pillars of Creation, ignoring Owen’s doubt. Knowing Richard as she did, Kahlan imagined that he must be considering his options.

Standing beside him, she was about to lean back against the stone of the statue’s base, but instead paused to first brush the snow off from beside where the warning beacon rested. As she brushed the snow away, she saw that there were words carved in the top of the decorative molding.