Naked Empire (Sword of Truth 8)

“So then anyone who went out of this boundary died,” Owen said.

Richard nodded. “I’m afraid so. Kaja-Rang appeared to have made elaborate plans that functioned as he intended for all this time. He even made contingencies should the boundary fail.”

“That’s something I don’t understand,” a young man said. “If this wizard was so great, and his magic was so powerful that he could make a wall of death to keep us separated from the world for three thousand years, then how could it possibly fail? In the last two years it simply went away. Why?”

“I believe it was because of me,” Kahlan said.

She took a step closer to the men. Richard didn’t try to stop her. At this point, it wouldn’t do to appear as if he were withholding information from them.

“A couple of years ago, in a desperate act to save Richard’s life, I inadvertently called forth underworld power that I believe may be slowly destroying magic in our world. Richard banished this evil magic, but it had been here in the world of life for a time, so the effects may be irreversible.”

Worried looks passed among the men. This woman before them had just admitted that because of something she’d done, their protection had failed. Because of her, horrifying violence and brutality had befallen them. Because of her, their way of life had ended.

Chapter 43

“You still have not shown us your magic,” one of the men finally said.

Richard’s hand slipped away from the small of Kahlan’s back as he stepped toward the men.

“Kaja-Rang devised a facet to his magic, linked to the boundary he placed here, to help protect it.” Richard held up the small figure of himself for all the men to see. “This was sent to warn me that the boundary to your land had failed.”

“Why is the top part of it that strange black?” asked a man standing in the front.

“I believe that it’s an indication of how I’m running out of time, how I may be dying.”

Worried whispering swept through the group of men. Richard held up a hand, urging them to listen to him as he went on.

“This sand inside—can you all see this sand?”

Stretching their necks, they all tried to get a look, but not all were close enough, so Richard walked among them, holding up the statue so that they could all see that it looked like him, and see the sand falling inside.

“This is not really sand,” he told them. “It’s magic.”

Owen’s face twisted with skepticism. “But you said we couldn’t see magic.”

“You are all pristinely ungifted and aren’t touched by magic, so you can’t see regular magic. The boundary, however, still prevented you from going out into the world, didn’t it? Why do you suppose that was so?”

“It was a wall of death,” an older man spoke up, seeming to think that it was self-evident.

“But how could it harm people who are not affected by magic? Going into the boundary itself meant death for you the same as anyone else. Why?

“Because the boundary is a place in this world where the underworld also existed. The underworld is the world of the dead. You may be ungifted, but you are mortal; since you are linked to life, so, too, are you linked to death.”

Richard again held the statue up. “This magic, as well, is tied to the underworld. Since you are all mortal, you have a connection to the underworld, to the Keeper’s power, to death. That’s why you can see the sand that shows how my time trickles away.”

“I don’t see anything magical about sand trickling down,” a man grumbled. “Just because you say it’s magic, or that it’s your life trickling away, that doesn’t seem to prove anything.”

Richard turned the statue sideways. The sand continued to flow, but sideways.

Gasps and astonished whispering broke out among the men as they watched the sand flowing laterally.

They crowded in close like curious children to see the statue as Richard held it up, on its side, so they could see magic. Some reached out and tentatively touched the inky black surface as Richard held the figure of himself out for them to inspect. Others leaned close, peering in to see the sand flowing askew in the lower part, where the figure was still transparent.

The men spoke of what a wonder it was, but they weren’t sure about his explanation of underworld magic.

“But we all see this,” one of the men said. “This doesn’t show us that we’re really different from you or anyone else, as you say we are. This shows us only that we are all able to see this magic, the same as you. Maybe we aren’t this pristinely ungifted people you seem to think we are.”

Richard thought about it a moment, thought about what he could do to show them the true aspects of magic. Even though he was gifted, he didn’t know a great deal about controlling his own gift, except that it was in part powered by anger linked to need. He couldn’t simply demonstrate some bit of magic the way Zedd could, and besides, even if he could do something magical, they wouldn’t be able to see it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Richard saw Cara standing with her arms folded. An idea came to him.

“The bond between the Lord Rahl and his people is a bond of magic,” Richard said. “That same magic powers other things, besides the protection that the bond affords against the dream walker.”

Richard gestured for Cara to come forward. “In addition to being my friend, Cara is also a Mord-Sith. For thousands of years Mord-Sith have been fierce protectors of the Lord Rahl.” Richard lifted Cara’s arm for the men to see the red rod hanging from the fine gold chain at her wrist. “This is an Agiel, the weapon of a Mord-Sith. The Agiel is powered by a Mord-Sith’s connection to the Lord Rahl—to me.”

“But it has no blade on it,” a man said as he looked closely at the Agiel swinging on the end of the gold chain. “It has nothing of any use as a weapon.”

“Take a closer look at it,” Richard suggested as he held Cara’s elbow and guided her forward, among the men. “Look at it closely to satisfy yourself that what this man has observed, that it has no blade, that it is nothing more than this slender rod, is true.”

The men leaned in close as Cara walked among them, holding her arm up, letting the men touch and inspect her Agiel as it dangled from its chain. When they had all had a look, inspecting the length of it, looking at the end, hefting it to see that it wasn’t heavy and couldn’t really be used as a club, Richard told Cara to touch it to the men. The Agiel spun up into her fist. Men flinched back at the grim look on her face as she came at them with the thing that Richard had told them was a weapon.

Cara touched her Agiel to Owen’s shoulder.

“She touched me with this red rod before,” he assured his men. “It does nothing.”

Cara pressed the Agiel to every man close enough for her to reach. A few cringed back, fearful of being harmed, even though it had harmed none of their fellows. Many of the men, though, felt the touch of her Agiel and were satisfied that there was no ill effect.

Richard rolled up his sleeve. “Now, I will show you that this really is a powerful weapon of magic.”

He held his arm out to Cara. “Draw blood,” he said in a calm voice that did not betray what he really thought of being touched by an Agiel.

Cara stared at him. “Lord Rahl, I don’t—”

“Do it,” Richard commanded as he held his arm out.

“Here,” Tom said, thrusting his bared arm in front of her. “Do it to me, instead.”

Cara immediately saw this as a preferable test.

“No!” Jennsen objected, but too late.

Tom cried out as Cara touched the end of her Agiel to his arm. He staggered back a step, a trickle of blood running down his arm. The men stared, unsure what they were seeing.

“It must be a trick of some kind,” one suggested.

As Jennsen comforted Tom, Richard held his arm out again.

“Show them,” he told Cara. “Show them what a Mord-Sith’s Agiel can do with magic alone.”

Cara looked into his eyes. “Lord Rahl…”

r /> “Do it. Show them, so they understand.” He turned to the men. “Gather around closer so you can see that it does its terrible task with no visible means. Watch closely so that you can all see that it’s magic alone doing its grisly work.”

Richard clenched his fist as he held the inside of his arm up for her to touch. “Do it so that they can clearly see what it will do; otherwise it will be for nothing. Don’t make me do this for nothing.”

Cara pressed her lips tight with the displeasure of his command. She looked once more at the resolve in his eyes. When she did, he could see in her blue eyes the pain it gave her to hold the Agiel. He clenched his teeth and nodded that he was ready. With an iron visage, she laid the Agiel against the inside of his forearm.

It felt like lightning hit him.