The commander stepped closer, frowning as he appraised Richard, looking him up and down. Behind, Six appeared in the opening through the wall, a black silhouette against the sunrise.
The commander folded his muscled arms. “Do you know how to play Ja’La dh Jin?”
Richard thought it the oddest question he could imagine at that moment. In the background, beyond the rather small opening in the wall he had made it through, grievously injured men screamed, cried, and begged for help.
Richard didn’t shy away from the commander. “Yes, I know how to play the game of life.”
The man smiled at Richard using the translation of Ja’La dh Jin from the emperor’s tongue.
The commander, looking far from concerned about the numbers of his men Richard had cut down, smiled to himself as he shook his head in wonder. Richard wasn’t concerned for the dead and injured, either. They had chosen to be a part of a conquering army, to plunder, rape, and murder people who had done them no wrong, people who had committed the sin of not believing in the ways of the Order, people who had wished to live their own lives free.
Six stalked up beside the commander. “I appreciate your valiant efforts to apprehend this dangerous man. He is a condemned prisoner and my responsibility. His punishment is to be directed by the queen herself.”
The commander glanced over at her. “He just killed a number of my men. He is my prisoner now.”
Six looked ready to spit fire. “I’ll not allow—”
Hundreds of arrows all lifted as one to point right at the woman. She
froze still and silent, appraising the threat. Like Richard, she obviously knew that her talent was no match for this many massed men with weapons that could be released with a twitch. It would take only one twitch to end her life.
“This man is my prisoner,” Six said to the commander in a quiet but firm voice. “I was just taking him to the queen for—”
“He’s my prisoner now. Go back to the castle. The grounds belong to the Order now. This is no longer the queen’s—or your—dominion. This man is ours now.”
“But I—”
“You are dismissed. Or do you wish to break our agreement, and have us slaughter the whole lot of you?”
Six’s blanched blue eyes swept the hundreds of men aiming arrows at her. “Of course our agreement stands, Commander.” She turned her intense eyes on the man. “I have honored it, as agreed, and so will you.”
He tipped his head in a slight bow. “Very well. Now, leave us to our duty. As agreed, you, as well as those in charge here, may go about your business, go where you wish, and my men will not accost you, them, or the castle staff.”
With one final murderous look at Richard, she turned and stalked away. Along with the commander and all his men, Richard watched the witch woman glide through the opening in the wall and up the bloody path among the dead and dying, not giving them so much as a second look as she headed for the entrance to the castle. Men parted for her, letting her through.
The commander turned back to Richard. “What is your name?”
Richard knew that he couldn’t give his real name. He couldn’t even give the name he grew up with, Richard Cypher. If he did, he was liable to be recognized for who he really was. His mind raced as he tried to think of another name he could use. The name Zedd liked to use when he needed to disguise his identity popped into his head.
“I’m Ruben Rybnik.”
“Well, Ruben, I will give you a choice. We could skin you alive, stake you out, slit open your belly, and let you watch as the vultures pull your intestines out and fight over them.”
Richard knew he wouldn’t have to face such a fate, because all he would have to do was attack and the archers would kill him. Still, he didn’t want to die. He couldn’t help Kahlan if he was dead.
“I don’t much like that choice. You have another?”
A sly smile spread on the man’s face, befitting the reptilian half with the scale tattoos. “Yes, as a matter of fact I do. You see, the different divisions of the army have Ja’La teams. Ours is made up of a mix of my men and the very best of those we have come across—men blessed by the Creator with exceptional talent.
“It was quite impressive the way you made your way through all those men and to the opening in the wall, like you were making your way toward a goal. You continued on toward that goal without allowing yourself to be stopped no matter what the men threw at you…well, you’re a natural point man.”
“Dangerous position, being the point man.”
The commander shrugged. “That is the game of life. We are absent a point man right now. He died in the last game. As he was evading a blocking man he missed a catch and the broc stove in his ribs. They punctured his lungs. It was a messy, painful death.”
“That doesn’t sound like a very tempting job.”
The commander’s eyes gleamed with menace. “If you would rather, you can take your chances without your skin, watching the vultures fight over your bowels.”
“Would I get the chance to play the emperor’s team?”
“The emperor’s team,” the commander repeated. He stared at Richard for a moment, interested that he would have asked such a question. “You really are a competitive sort.” He finally nodded. “All sanctioned Ja’La teams dream of having a chance to face the emperor’s team. If you show your worth, and help us win tournaments with your skill as point man, then, yes, you might very well get the chance to play the emperor’s team. If you survive that long.”
“Then I’d like to join.”
The commander smiled. “You are thinking of being a hero? Is that it? A Ja’La player who is cheered? A player of renown?”
“Perhaps.”
The commander leaned a little closer. “I think you are dreaming of the women such a victory would earn you. The looks in the eyes of beautiful females. The smiles of attractive women.”
Richard thought of Kahlan’s beautiful green eyes, her smile.
“Yes, that thought had crossed my mind.”
“Crossed your mind!” The man snorted a laugh. “Well, Ruben, banish the thought. You are not a player who has come to join. You are a captive, and a dangerous one at that. We have provisions for players of your kind. You will be put in a cage and taken by wagon. You will be let out to play, or to practice, but otherwise you will be no more than a caged animal. During practice sessions you will have to work hard to learn to work with the rest of the team, to learn their strengths and weaknesses—after all, you are the point man. But even so, you will not be one man alone.”
Richard didn’t see an alternative. “I understand.”
The commander took a deep breath as he hooked his thumbs in his weapons belt. “Good. If you play well, if you do your best in every game, and if we should happen to beat the emperor’s team, I will allow you to have your choice of the women who will be gathered, eager to lie with the players.”
“With the victors,” Richard corrected.
The commander nodded. “With the victors.” He lifted a finger. “Make one wrong step in the meantime, and you will be killed.”
“Bargain struck,” Richard said. “You have your new point man.”
The commander lifted an arm, signaling other officers closer. They came to attention before the commander.
“Have the wagon brought up—the one with the iron box—for our new point man, here. I think you already know how dangerous he is. Handle him as such. I want to unleash his talent against our opponents.”
The officer gave Richard an appraising glance. “It would be nice to win more than on occasion.”
The commander nodded as he started reeling off orders. “Post guards near the castle and in town, enough to insure that there will be no trouble from the people of Tamarang. Then have all the laborers start setting up the stations for our supply trains. You’ll first have to find a place big enough. Look just outside the city, near the river.
“Summer is waning. Winter will be here before you know it, and the supply trains soon coming up through here will be large and often. All our troops in the New World will be needing supplies to last them the coming winter.
“The city of Tamarang will provide what our men will need for the construction. There is a port on the river where the lumber is to be brought in, so you will need to make provisions for roads to the new site, and for the barracks for all the men who will eventually be billeted here.”
One of the officers nodded. “We have all the plans ready.”
Richard could only assume that the Order intended to use the city of Tamarang for help in all the construction for the depot. He had seen them do such things before. It was easier to deal with places that were eager to join in the Order than to destroy everything and then just have to build it up again.
“I will be leaving at once with our troops and this supply train,” the commander told the officers. “Jagang wants all the men he can get for the assault on the D’Haran Empire.”
The leader of the D’Haran Empire stood quietly listening to the plans for the final assault on the people of the New World, for the slaughter of those who believed in freedom, for the battle that he had made sure would never happen.
Rachel woke when she heard Violet padding around the bedroom. Through the little slit in the door of her iron box, Rachel could see the tall window across the room. Even though the heavy royal blue drapes were drawn, she could tell by the color of the light coming in the narrow gap between them that it was just dawn.
Queen Violet did not ordinarily get up this early.
Rachel listened, trying to hear what Violet was doing. She heard a long yawn, and then the sounds of the cave queen getting dressed.
Rachel’s legs were cramped from being in the box all night. She wanted to get out and stretch. That was not a desire she dared to voice, though. At least they hadn’t put the tongue clamp on her the night before; sometimes Violet didn’t feel like bothering.
All of a sudden there was a BANG, BANG, BANG that made Rachel jump, made her heart race. It was Violet beating the heel of her shoe on the top of the iron box.
“Wake up,” Violet said. “Big day. A messenger slipped a note under the door in the night. Six returned—a few hours before dawn.”
The queen whistled as she went about dressing. That in itself was a little unusual, because the queen usually called in her attendants to get out her clothes and dress her. Now she was dressing herself, and whistling while she did it. Rachel had rarely heard Violet whistle. It was pretty clear that she was in a good mood because of Six returning.
Rachel’s heart sank at all that meant.
What little light came into the sleeping box darkened as Violet’s eyes appeared just outside the slit in the door. “She has Richard with her. The spells I drew all worked. Today is going to be the worst day of his life. I will see to that. Today, he begins to pay for his crimes against me.”
Violet’s face vanished. The whistling started in again as the queen crossed the room, finished getting dressed, and drew on stockings and laced boots. In a few moments she returned and leaned close again.
“I’m going to let you watch while the men whip him.” She cocked her head. “What do you have to say?”
In the back corner of her box, Rachel swallowed. “Thank you, Queen Violet.”
Violet snickered as she straightened. “He won’t have an inch of flesh left on his back by the time the sun sets today.” She went a short distance to the desk in the corner and then returned. Rachel heard the key turn in the lock. The lock made a metallic clang as it popped open, banging against the iron door. Violet pulled the lock off the hasp. “And that’s only the beginning of what I will have done to him. I’ll—”
There was an urgent knock at the door. A muffled voice demanded that the door be opened. It was Six’s voice.
“Hold on, I’m coming,” Violet shouted across the room.
Rachel moved a little closer to the slit and saw Violet hurriedly hook the lock back through the hasp. She pushed it to lock it again just as Six banged on the door.
“All right, all right,” Violet said as she let go of the lock and rushed across the room. She turned the latch on the big, heavy door and almost immediately it burst open. Six swept into the room, all dark and towering like a thunderhead.
“You have him, right? He’s here, locked up where I told you to put him?” Violet asked, her voice filled with trembling excitement as Six closed the big door. “We can start punishing him immediately. I will have the guards assemble—”
“The army took him.”
Rachel moved closer to the iron door and cautiously peered out the slit. Six was standing just inside the door. The queen’s back was to Rachel. Violet stood in a white satin dress with a deep blue belt and laced boots over her white stockings, staring up at the stark figure of the witch woman.
“What?”
“Imperial Order troops appeared right before dawn. They’re flooding into the city as I speak, into the grounds of the castle. There are thousands of them—tens of thousands of them—maybe hundreds of thousands of them for all I know.”
Violet looked confused, not wanting to believe what she was hearing as she searched for words. “But that can’t be. The message you sent said
that he was locked up, just as I instructed, locked up in the cell where he hurt me.”
“‘Was’ is the operative word. We arrived in the night and I locked him up just as you wished. Then I sent you the message and saw to a few things, waiting for morning.
“I was bringing him with me, just now. I was bringing him to face you when we encountered the occupying soldiers. It’s one of those massive advance columns of reinforcements. Their purpose is not a slaughter and rampage; they want to establish a staging area in Tamarang for other supply trains coming up from the Old World. They were open to my offers of—”
“What about Richard!”
Six heaved a sigh. “I was too late. There was nothing I could do. The troops were pouring in from every direction. Our men had no chance to stop them. Those who tried were swept aside. I thought that it was best to deal with the Order’s men myself, to try to find a way to secure safety for you, and your staff, while I had the chance.
“While I was speaking to the commander, insuring favorable terms for us in return for help in what they want to do with establishing supply routes, all of a sudden Richard came up with a sword.”
Violet planted her fists on her hips. “What do you mean, he ‘came up with a sword’?” Her temper, along with her voice, was rising by the moment. “You saw to it that he doesn’t have his sword.”
“No, it wasn’t the Sword of Truth. It was another sword. Just a plain sword. He must have grabbed it from a soldier when no one was looking. Plain though it may have been, he knew how to use it. All of a sudden a war broke out. Richard was like death itself unleashed. He was killing Imperial Order troops by the dozens. It was madness. The men thought they were facing a major battle. Everyone went into combat without even knowing what they were up against. Things just went crazy in an instant.
“I can’t control pandemonium on that level. There were too many men, there was too much violence. I would have needed some time to gain control and there was no time. Richard made it out through the wall—”
“He escaped! After all this, he escaped!”
“No. Outside the wall waited hundreds of archers. They had him trapped. He was captured.”
Violet sighed in relief. “Good. For a moment I thought—”
“No, not good. The commander would not release him. Because Richard had killed so many of his men, the commander wanted Richard as a prisoner. They probably intend to execute him. I doubt he will live to see tomorrow.
“Once in the castle, on the way up here, I looked out a window and saw them put Richard in an iron box in a wagon. They took him away with the column of troops heading north.”
Violet blinked indignation. “You let him get away? You let those filthy nobodies take him—take my prize?”
In the sudden quiet, Rachel saw Six’s glare darken. She had never seen the witch woman give the queen such a look before, and she thought that Violet would do well to be a little more prudent.
“I had no choice,” Six said with an icy inflection to her words. “There were hundreds of archers pointing arrows at me. They left me no choice in the matter. It’s not like I wanted to give Richard over to them. A lot of work has gone into this.”
“You should have stopped it! You have powers!”
“Not enough for—”
“You boneheaded moron! You stupid, stupid, worthless, no-good dimwitted jackass! I trust you with an important task and you don’t even see it through for me! I’ll have you whipped to within an inch of your life for this! You’re no better than the rest of my worthless, no-good advisors! I’ll have you whipped in Richard’s place to teach you yours!”
Rachel flinched at the resounding sound of the slap. It knocked Violet from her feet. She landed on her bottom on the floor.
“How dare you touch me in that way,” Violet said, comforting her cheek. “I’ll have you beheaded for this. Guards! I need you!”
Almost immediately there was a knock at the double doors.
Six opened one of them. Two men with pikes looked at the queen sitting on the floor, and then up into the blanched blue eyes of the woman holding the door handle.
“If you dare to knock on this door again,” Six hissed, “I will eat your raw livers for my breakfast and wash it down with your blood.”
The two men turned as white as Six. “Sorry to bother you, Mistress,” one said. “Yes, sorry,” the other said as they turned tail and ran off down the hall.
With a growl of rage Six grabbed Violet by her hair and lifted her to her feet. The witch woman unleashed a blow that sent Violet tumbling across the floor, leaving strings of blood across the carpets in her wake.
“You ungrateful little brat. I’ve had about all I can stomach of you. I’ve endured it long enough. From now on, you will keep that tongue still or I will rip out what I gave you back.”
Her long, bony fingers seized Violet by the hair and pulled her up again, then slammed the queen against the wall. Rachel could see Violet’s arms hanging limp. She made no move to defend herself as Six struck her time after time. Blood ran from Violet’s nose, from her mouth, and was splattered across the wall. A bib of blood stood out against the white satin of Violet’s dress.
When the tall witch woman released the queen, she dropped into a heap on the floor and fell to helpless sobbing.
“Shut up!” Six roared, her anger building. “Stand! Stand up this instant or never stand again!”
Violet struggled to her feet, finally standing before Six, looking up at her, her eyes filled not only with tears, but terror.
Violet lifted her chin. She visibly pushed her fear aside and grasped at indignation, instead. “How dare you touch your queen in such a fashion. I will—”
“Queen?” Six sneered. “You were never anything more than a puppet queen. Now, you are no longer even that. You are no longer queen. As of this moment, you resign.
“I am the queen, now. Not like you, a pompous little twit who thinks herself important because of the extravagance of her tantrums, but a real queen. A queen with real power. Queen Six. Got it?”
When Violet started crying in angry resentment, Six slapped her hard enough to toss her head aside and throw yet more blood against the lacy, powder blue designs stenciled on the wall. Again, faced with an angry witch woman, Violet didn’t respond, even to ward the assault.
Six rested her fists on her knobby hips as she leaned down toward Violet. “I asked if you got it.”
Violet, on the edge of ragged panic at hearing the deadly threat in Six’s voice, nodded.
“Say it!” Six slapped her again. “Answer your queen properly!”
Violet’s sobs grew louder, as if that alone would save her throne.
“Say it or I’ll have you boiled alive, chopped up, and fed to the hogs.”
“Yes…Queen Six.”
“Very good,” Six hissed with a venomous smile. She straightened. “Now, what good can you be to me?” She looked up at the ceiling, touching a finger to her chin in royal contemplation. “Should I even bother to keep you alive? Yes, I know—you will be the court artist. A petty member of my staff. Do your job properly and you live. Fail me in any way, and you will be boiled and fed to the hogs. Got it?”
Violet nodded at the glare that focused on her. “Yes, Queen Six.”
Six smiled with grim pride at how quickly she had brought Violet to task. She seized the former queen’s collar behind her neck.
“Now, we have urgent business. We can still save this mess.”
“But how?” Violet whined. “Without Richard—”
“I’ve clipped his fangs. His gift is mine for now and he will remain cut off from it. I will decide when the time is right to deal with him.
“As for the rest of it, there is another way, but it is, unfortunately, more difficult. I only used Richard in the first place because certain aspects of it were less complicated. It also kept you quiet and working without complaint while I pulled your strings. The other way is far more complex because, unlike Richard, a number of other people are involved, so we must get started at once.”
“What other way?”
Six flashed an affected smile. “You will draw some more pictures for me.” She opened the door with one hand and with the other dragged Violet out into the hall. “I need you to draw a woman. A woman with an iron collar around her neck.”
“What woman are you talking about?” Violet asked in a trembling voice.
Rachel could just barely see them out in the hallway as Six reached for the doorknob. “You don’t remember her. It will be harder to do because of that, but I can instruct you in how to accomplish the elements that I will need. Still, it will be more difficult than anything you’ve done before. I’m afraid that it will test not only your ability, but your strength and endurance. If you don’t want to end up in the trough as hog slop, you will put your all into it. Got it?”
“Yes, Queen Six,” Violet said in a voice choked with tears.
As Six started to march away, dragging Violet along, she slammed the bedroom door closed behind her.
In the sudden silence, Rachel held her breath, wondering if they would remember her and return. She waited, but then finally had to let the breath out. Violet had replaced the lock, so she probably wouldn’t give Rachel a second thought. Violet had a lot bigger problems, now, than worrying about letting Rachel out.
Rachel feared that she was going to die in the cursed box. Would anyone ever let her out? Would Six return and put Rachel to death? After all, Rachel had only been kept around for Violet’s amusement. There was no longer any reason for Six to keep up the pretense.
Six was in charge, now.
Rachel knew most of the people who worked in the castle. She knew that none of them would dare to say a word when Six told them that she was now the queen. Everyone was afraid of Violet, because she had people punished and put to death, but everyone was more afraid of Six because she was the one who enforced Violet’s whims. Besides, when Six said things to people, they just seemed to lose their ability to do anything but what she’d told them to do. Those who crossed Six seemed to vanish. It occurred to Rachel that the hogs looked well fed.
Rachel thought again about how when Six was slapping Violet, Violet didn’t even make an attempt to protect herself with her hands. Rachel knew that Six was a witch woman. Witch women had a way of making people forget how to fight against what was happening. They just did as she said, no matter how much they didn’t want to. Like the two guards. They saw the queen on the floor with a bloody nose, calling for help, but they quickly chose to do as Six told them, not Violet.