Chainfire (Sword of Truth 9)

Richard knew the truth of that. Jagang seemed to be an expert on history and what had been done in ancient times. He used that information to great advantage. It seemed like Richard was always trying to catch up with what Jagang already knew.

“Have these men found any of the books, yet?” Richard asked Jillian.

Her copper-colored eyes blinked. “My grandfather has told me about books, but I know of none that are here. The city has been abandoned since ancient times. If there were books, they have long ago been looted along with anything else of value.”

That was not what Richard had hoped to hear. He had been hoping that maybe there would be something here that would help answer the questions he had. After all, Shota had told him that he must find the place of the bones in the Deep Nothing. The graveyard all around him certainly was a place of bones.

“This place is called the Deep Nothing?” he asked her.

Jillian nodded. “It is a vast land where little lives. None but my people can scrape a life from this forbidding place. People have always feared to come here. The bleached bones of those who do venture here are out there, in this place and to the south, before the great barrier. The land is called the Deep Nothing.”

Richard realized that it must be a place much like the wilds in the Midlands.

“The great barrier?” Cara asked, suspiciously.

Jillian looked up at the Mord-Sith. “The great barrier that protects us from the Old World.”

“This has to be southern D’Hara,” Cara told him. “That’s why I heard stories about Caska when I was a child—because it’s in D’Hara.”

Jillian pointed. “This is the place of my ancestors. They were destroyed by those from the Old World back in ancient times. They, too, were ones who cast dreams.” She looked off into the darkness to the south. “But they failed and were destroyed.”

Richard didn’t have time to try to figure it all out. He had enough problems.

“Have you ever heard of Chainfire?”

Jillian frowned. “No. What is Chainfire?”

“I don’t know.” He tapped a finger against his bottom lip as he thought about what to do next.

“Richard,” Jillian said, “you must help me cast the dreams that will drive these men away so that my people will be safe again.”

Richard glanced up at Nicci. “Any ideas how I can do such a thing?”

“No,” she said. “But I can tell you that the rest of the men will sooner or later come looking for these three dead men. These aren’t your average Imperial Order soldiers. They may be brutes, but they are the smartest of them. I imagine that casting dreams is something that involves your gift…not an advisable thing to be doing,” she added.

Richard stood up and put one hand on a hip as he stared off at the dark city on the headland.

“Seek what is long buried…” he whispered to himself. He turned back to Jillian. “You said that you were a priestess of the bones. I need you to show me everything you know about the bones.”

Jillian shook her head. “First you must help me cast the dreams so that I can chase the strangers away and my grandfather and the rest of our people will be safe.”

Richard sighed in frustration. “Look, Jillian, I don’t know how to help you cast dreams and I don’t have time to figure it out. But I would imagine, as Nicci said, that it involves magic, and I can’t use magic or it very well could call a beast that could kill all of your people. This beast has already killed a lot of my friends who were with me. I need you to show me what you know about what is long buried.”

Jillian wiped at her tears. “Those men have my grandfather and others down there. They will kill him. You must save my grandfather first. Besides, he is a teller. He knows more than me.”

Richard put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He could not imagine how he would feel if someone whom he thought was powerful refused to help save his grandfather.

“I have an idea,” Nicci said. “I’m a sorceress, Jillian. I know all about these men and how they work. I know how to handle them. You help Richard, and while you do that I’ll go down there and see to getting rid of these men. When I’m done they will no longer be a danger to you or your people.”

“If I help Richard, you will help my grandfather?”

Nicci smiled. “I promise.”

Jillian looked up at Richard.

“Nicci keeps her word,” he told her.

“All right. I will show Richard everything I know about this place while you make those men leave us be.”

“Cara,” Richard said, “go with Nicci and watch her back.”

“And who will watch yours?”

Richard put a boot on the head of the man he had killed and yanked his knife free. He pointed with the weapon. “Lokey will watch our backs.”

Cara did not look amused. “A raven is going to watch your back.”

He wiped the blade clean on the man’s shirt, then returned the knife to its sheath at his belt. “The priestess of the bones will watch over me. After all, she’s been here waiting all this time for me to come here. Nicci is the one who will be in danger. I’d appreciate it if you protected her.”

Cara glanced at Nicci as if grasping some greater meaning. “I will protect her for you, Lord Rahl.”

Chapter 61

As Nicci and Cara started down toward where Jillian said the rest of the Imperial Order soldiers were, Richard went back into his tomb and recovered the smallest of the glass spheres. He slipped it into his pack so that it wouldn’t interfere with his night vision, but would be handy if they had to go into any of the buildings of the city. Searching ancient decaying buildings in the dark was not a prospect he relished.

Jillian was like a cat that knew every nook and cranny of the ancient city on the headland. They went through streets that had nearly disappeared under rubble and wreckage of walls long since fallen. Some of the debris had collected weather-borne dust and dirt that had eventually filled it in, making small hills where trees now grew among the buildings. There were a number of buildings Richard didn’t want to enter because he could see that they were ready to collapse if the wind blew the wrong way. Others were still in relatively good condition.

One of the larger buildings Jillian took him to had arches all along the front that at one time had probably held windows, or maybe had even been open to what seemed an inner courtyard. As Richard walked across the floor, small bits of crumbled mortar crunched underfoot. A mosaic made of tiny square colored tiles covered the entire floor. The colors were long since faded, but Richard could still make them out well enough to see that the swirling lines of tiles made up a sprawling picture of trees dotting a landscape surrounded by a wall, with paths through places where there were graves.

“This building is the entrance to a section of the graveyard,” Jillian told him.

Richard frowned as he leaned down a little, studying the picture. There was something odd about it. Moonlight fell across figures in the mosaic that were carrying platters with breads and what looked like meats into the graveyard, while other figures were coming back with empty platters.

Richard straightened when he heard a horrifying cry drift up to them from the far distance, both he and Jillian stood up stock still, listening. More of the distant, faint wails and laments drifted in on the cool night air.

“What was that?” Jillian asked in a whisper, her copper-colored eyes wide.

“I think Nicci is getting rid of the invaders. Your people will be safe once she is finished.”

“You mean she is hurting them?”

Richard could see that such concepts were alien to the girl. “These are men who would do terrible things to your people—including your grandfather. If they are left to come back another day, they will kill your people.”

She turned and looked back out through the arches. “That wouldn’t be good. But the dreams would have driven them away.”

“Did casting dreams save your ancestors? Save the people of this ci

ty?”

She looked back to his eyes. “I guess not.”

“What matters most is that people who value life, like you, your grandfather, and your people are safe to live their lives. Sometimes that means it’s necessary to eliminate those who would do you harm.”

She swallowed. “Yes, Lord Rahl.”

He put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “Richard. I am a Lord Rahl who wants people to be safe to live as they wish.”