Severed Souls (Sword of Truth 14)

“Unfortunately, those powers apparently also settled into Hannis Arc and Ludwig Dreier,” Kahlan said.

Nicci gestured in frustration. “Great. So a man with those occult abilities came to be the very one running the prison meant to confine him.”

“More likely to execute him,” Kahlan said.

Richard looked back at the shackles pinned to the wall. He was beginning to get an idea. He just needed time to think it through. But there was no time. He needed to act before it was too late.

“I know that look,” Kahlan said. “What are you thinking? Get everyone out from below and do a lightning-quick attack?”

Richard’s mind was filled with the flow and form of the dance with death, the way of a war wizard. He was lost in that dance he had come to know so well.

“The threat we face is not one that will be helped with soldiers. For the moment, we need to leave them down there, out of the way. We need everyone in the citadel to think we are all still locked up and under control.”

Samantha’s hands fisted. “My mother is gifted. We need to get her out. She can help.”

“Samantha, calm down. I know how much you want to get her out, but I know what I’m talking about. We will get her out, I promise, but we first have to make it safe to do so. You need to trust me in this. You wouldn’t want to get her out only to have her killed because we failed to recognize the full extent what we face, would you?”

“Well, no, I guess not, but—”

“But nothing. Dreier possesses occult abilities. He has already proven that he can cut any gifted person down in a heartbeat. He put all of us and the men down before any of us knew what hit us. Your mother has no chance against him. None of us do.”

A devious smile spread on Nicci’s face. “I have some ideas.”

Richard was sure she did. Nicci was experienced at this sort of thing, at using her head rather than brawn. She also knew better than to try to use what they knew wouldn’t work.

“We need to act with surprise, swiftness, and violence,” Richard told all of them. “Capturing Dreier is the priority.”

Kahlan’s expression suddenly took an angry set. “Capture him! Richard, we can’t risk capturing him! And what would be the point? The best thing to do is what you said. Surprise, swiftness, and violence. We need to kill the bastard before he has a chance to strike back. With his abilities he could kill us all. We wouldn’t stand a chance of stopping him. We need to kill him, not capture him. Now we have the chance to surprise him and end the threat.”

“The threat from Dreier,” Richard said, “but what about the rest of it?”

“What about it?” Kahlan lifted her hands and let them flop down at her sides. “What can we do, Richard? We’re going to be dead from Jit’s poison before we have a chance to do anything else. We can at least kill Ludwig Dreier before we die. To be able to do anything else we would have to be cured.”

“Exactly.”

Richard smiled as he drew his sword. The ring of steel echoed around the stone dungeon.

Everyone looked puzzled as he turned. With a mighty swing, he struck the chain holding the collar that had been around his neck. As it cleaved the chain away at the wall, the blade sent hot fragments of steel flying through the room, some skittering along the floor, some rebounding off walls.

When the collar clattered to the floor, Richard picked it up by its short length of chain and held it up before the others. “This is a collar meant to contain the powers of the gifted.”

“Dreier has occult powers,” Kahlan pointed out. “Those are even more powerful than his gifted abilities.”

A grin spread on Nicci’s face. “But this place was made specifically to confine those with occult powers, not merely the gifted.”

“Right,” Richard said. “With this, we can capture Ludwig Dreier and keep him from using his power against us.”

Kahlan folded her arms, interested, but not yet convinced. “Why? It would be easier to kill him. What’s the point of going to the trouble of capturing him?”

“What kind of poison do we have in us?” he asked her.

Kahlan shrugged. “The call of death, from Jit.”

“Which is…?” Richard prompted.

Her eyes widened with understanding. “Caused by an occult power.”

“That’s right. Jit had occult powers. That’s what is infecting us.”

Nicci was smiling. “And Ludwig Dreier has occult powers. So, if we can capture him alive and hold him in that collar, maybe we can find out if there is a way to cure you two of that occult poison without a containment field.”

“It’s our only chance,” Richard said. “We have to try.”

“Even if you somehow get him in the collar,” Kahlan said, “how are you going to get him to cooperate?”

Cassia leaned in as she smiled in the chilling way that only Mord-Sith could smile. “You leave that part to us, Mother Confessor. We are Lord Rahl’s Mord-Sith now. We will get Dreier to cooperate.”

“With this sickness in me, my bond doesn’t work to power your Agiel,” Richard reminded them.

“No,” she agreed, the smile still in place, “but Dreier said that his occult abilities power our Agiel now, and the bond that powers them can’t be broken as long as he’s alive.”

“So,” Vale said, “we can use his own ability against him.”

“We’re going to do whatever it takes to protect Lord Rahl’s life,” Laurin added. “That is what Mord-Sith do. We will get him to talk. If there is a cure, he will tell us what he knows.”

Kahlan looked at the determination in their eyes. “Just leave him alive when you’re done so I can kill him.”

“You’ve got it, Mother Confessor,” Laurin said.

“He’s yours to kill,” Cassia agreed.

“But until then, he is ours,” Vale said with a gleam of menace in her eyes.

“Do any of you know where he sleeps?” Richard asked the three Mord-Sith.

They all shared a look.

“Oh yes, we know,” Cassia said. “It’s up on the third floor.”

“Lead the way,” Richard told her. “I’ll explain the plan on the way.”

“Gladly.”

“Is there a back way up to his bedroom?” he asked.

“Yes,” Cassia said. “Some of the doors are kept locked, though.”

Mohler held up the big ring of keys he carried. “Not a problem.”

“He has soldiers guarding his bedroom,” Laurin said. “Tonight he has Erika entertaining him, rather than one of us. He was eager to get to bed, so I doubt he will be asleep.”

“That means he will be distracted,” Richard said. “But this is still going to require stealth. All of you will need to do exactly as I say. Along the way I’m going to need some of you to stay behind to guard our backs. I don’t want any questioning or second-guessing. There won’t be time to explain or argue. We can’t have that if we are going to succeed and then get the others out of the dungeon. You will all need to do exactly as I say, when I say it, if this is going to work.”

He was directing his comments mostly at Samantha without looking at her because he didn’t want to sound like he was accusing her of something before she was guilty of it. But he also knew how she could be. He knew that he could count on the rest of them to follow instructions.

“If any of you have a problem with that, then you need to wait down here, otherwise you can come with me. Agreed?”

Everyone nodded.

CHAPTER

80

At an intersection of corridors, Richard took a quick look around the corner. He didn’t see anyone before quickly pulling back behind cover. The corridors, dimly lit by reflector lamps hung at regular intervals, were interior passageways, so there weren’t any windows.

Cassia had told him that the bedroom had windows. Since it was still night, they wouldn’t provide any light, but they were a possible escape route. Richard doubted, though, that if things went bad, Dreier wou

ld jump from the third floor.

“How much farther?” he asked.

Cassia took a careful look. “At the end of the corridor, the halls go to either the right or the left. The bedroom is to the right, at the end, but it’s not far. Like I explained, at the end of the hall that corridor opens up into a small rotunda right outside the bedroom. He keeps at least two soldiers there all the time. Sometimes more. Sometimes he stations eight or ten in the rotunda to stand guard. We won’t know for sure until we make the final turn toward the bedroom.”

“With Erika in the room with him,” Nicci said, “he might not feel the need for more.”