Naked Empire (Sword of Truth 8)

Rikka, Chase, Rachel, and Zedd dove to the dirt.

For an instant, everyone above them froze, staring in surprise. The soldiers who were accompanying them, weapons already drawn for the fight they expected, also stopped and stood in confusion.

Sister Tahirah saw her opportunity and cried out. “Help! These people are—”

The world ignited with brilliant white light.

An instant later a thunderous blast rocked the ground. A wall of debris followed, driven before a roar of noise.

Men were blown into the air. Some were cut down by flying wreckage. The elite guards that had escorted them tumbled through the air over Zedd.

Sister Tahirah had turned toward the flash. A wagon wheel shot toward them at incredible speed, hitting her chest-high, cutting her in two. The bloodied wheel sailed onward without even being slowed. The Sister’s shredded remains were flung across the ground along with the bodies of countless men.

As the blast from behind still rumbled, the screams of terribly wounded men rose into the lingering rays of sunset.

Zedd dearly hoped that Adie had not wasted any time in escaping.

Chase seized Zedd’s robes at one shoulder and hauled him to his feet as he swept Rachel up in his other arm. Rikka grabbed Zedd’s robes at the other shoulder and pulled him ahead. Together, Zedd’s two rescuers rushed with him into the carnage.

Rachel hid her face in Chase’s shoulder.

Zedd was about to ask Chase why in the world he would teach a young girl such things with knives when he recalled that he himself had been the one who had once commanded Chase to the task of teaching her everything the boundary warden knew.

Rachel was a special person. Zedd had wanted her to be prepared for what life might have in store.

“You should have let me make the Sister take off that collar when we had the chance,” Rikka said as they ran.

“If we had taken the time,” Zedd answered, “we would have been back there and caught up in that fireball.”

“I suppose,” she said.

As they slowed a bit to catch their breath, men ran in every direction. In the confusion and disorder, no one noticed that the four of them were making good their escape. As they hastily made their way through the vast Imperial Order encampment, Zedd put an arm around Rikka’s shoulders and pulled her closer.

“Thank you for coming to save my life.”

She flashed him a cunning smile. “I wouldn’t leave you to those pigs—not after all you’ve done for us. Besides, Lord Rahl has Cara protecting him; I’m sure he would want a Mord-Sith protecting his grandfather as well.”

Zedd had been right. The world was turned upside down.

“We have horses and supplies hidden,” Chase said. “On our way out of this place, we’d better take a horse for Rikka.”

Rachel looked back over Chase’s shoulder, her arms around his neck. She gave Zedd a serious frown as she whispered, “Chase is unhappy because he had to leave all his weapons behind and be so lightly armed.”

Zedd glanced to the battle-axe at one hip, the sword at Chase’s other, and two knives at the small of his back. “Yes, I can see where being so defenseless would make a man grumpy.”

“I don’t like this place,” Rachel whispered in Chase’s ear.

He patted her back as she laid her head on his shoulder. “We’ll be back in the woods in no time, little one.”

Amid the screams and death, it was as tender a sight as Zedd could imagine.

Chapter 54

Verna paused when the sentry rushed up in the dark. She moved her hands up on the reins, closer to the bit, to keep her horse from spooking.

“Prelate—I think it might be an attack of some sort,” the soldier said in breathless worry.

She frowned at the man. “What might be an attack? What is it?”

“There’s something coming up the road.” He pointed back toward Dobbin Pass. “A wagon, I think.”

The enemy was always sending things at them—men sneaking through the darkness, horses encased in spells designed to blow a breach in their shields running wildly toward them, innocent enough wagons with archers hiding inside, powerful spell-driven winds laced with magic conjuring of every sort.

“Since it’s dark, the commander thinks it’s suspicious and we shouldn’t take any chances.”

“Sounds wise,” Verna said.

She had to get back to their camp. She had made the rounds herself to get a good look at their defenses, to see the men at the outposts, before their nightly meeting back at camp to go over the day’s reports.

“The commander wants to destroy the wagon before it gets too close. I’ve checked, Prelate—there are no other Sisters at hand. If you don’t want to see to this, we can have the men up above drop a rockslide on the wagon and crush it.”

Verna had to get back to meet with the officers. “You had better tell your commander to take care of it in whatever manner he sees fit.”

The soldier saluted with snap of a fist to his heart.

Verna pulled her horse around and put a foot into the stirrup. Why would the Imperial Order think they could get a wagon through, especially at night? Certainly, they weren’t foolish enough to think it wouldn’t be seen in the dark. She paused and looked at the soldier hurrying away.

“Wait.” He stopped and turned. “I changed my mind. I’ll go with you.”

It was foolish to use the rocks they had ready overhead; they might need them if a full-scale attack suddenly charged up this pass. It was silly to waste such a defense.

She followed the man up the trail to the lookout point where his company waited. The men were all watching through the trees. The road out ahead and below them looked silver in the light of the rising moon.

Verna inhaled the fragrance of balsam firs as she watched the wagon making its way up the silvery road, being pulled by a single, plodding horse. Tense archers waited at the ready. They had a shielded lantern standing by to light fire arrows in order to set the wagon ablaze.

Verna didn’t see anyone in the wagon. An empty wagon seemed pretty suspicious. She recalled the strange message from Ann, warning her to let an empty wagon through.

But they had already done that. Verna recalled that the girl with the message from Jagang had come in by this route and method. Verna’s heart pounded in worry at the thought of what new message Jagang might be sending, now.

Perhaps it was Zedd’s and Adie’s heads.

“Hold,” she called to the archers. “Let it through, but stand at the ready in case it’s a trick.”

Verna made her way down the narrow path between the trees. She stood behind a screen of spruce, watching. When the wagon was close enough, she opened a small gap in the weave of the vast shield she and the Sisters had spun across the pass. The pattern of magic was barbed with every nasty sort of magic they could conjure. This pass was small enough that the shields alone could hold it, and if the enemy did come, it was too small for any numbers to come all at once. Even without the formidable shield, the pass was relatively easy to hold.

When the wagon passed through the shield, Verna closed the hole. When it rolled close enough, one of the men ran out of the trees and took control of the horse. As the wagon drew to a halt, dozens of archers behind him and on the other side, behind Verna, drew their weapons. Verna had spun a web of magic and she was prepared to unleash it at the slightest provocation.

The tarp in the bed of the wagon eased back. A little girl sat up. It was the child who had brought the message the last time. Her face lit up at seeing Verna, someone she recognized.

Verna’s heart skipped a beat at the thought of what the message might be, this time.

“I brought some friends,” the girl said.

People lying in the back of the wagon pulled the tarp aside and started sitting up. They looked like parents with their frightened children.

Verna blinked in shock when she saw some of the people help Adie up. The sorceress looked to be exhausted.

Her black and gray hair was no longer parted neatly in the middle, but was in as much disarray as Zedd’s usually was.

Verna rushed over, leaning in to help the woman. “Adie! Oh, Adie, am I ever glad to see you!”

The old sorceress smiled. “I be awfully happy to see you, too, Verna.”