Soul of the Fire (49 page)

“
I saw his face just before he tried to fly. He was smiling as he did when he saw our homeland for the first time.”

Again in sorrow, Richard whispered the name of the third chime. The three chimes, Reechani, Sentrosi, Vasi—water, fire, air—had claimed more lives.

“
The chimes have killed Mud People, too. I had been hoping they were only here, where Kahlan and I are, but it seems the chimes are other places, too.”

Over the shoulders of the six blade masters, Richard saw that the Mud People had flattened an area of grass and were preparing to start a fire in order to share a meal with their new friends.

“
Chandalen!” The man looked up. “Don’t start a fire.”

Richard trotted over to where Chandalen and his hunters waited.

“
What is the trouble?” Chandalen asked. “Why do you wish us not to have fire? As long as we are to stop here for a time, we wish to cook meat and share our food.”

Richard scratched his brow. “The evil spirit that killed Juni can find people through water and fire. I’m sorry, but you need to keep your people from using fire for the time being. If you use fire you may have more evil spirits killing your people.”

“
Are you sure?”

Richard put a hand on Jiaan’s shoulder. “These people are strong like the Mud People. On their way here, one of them was killed by an evil spirit from a fire.”

Chandalen took in Jiaan’s nod that it was true.

“
Before we knew what was happening, he was burned alive by the fire,” Jiaan said. “He was a strong man, and brave. He was not a man to be taken easily by an enemy, but we did not hear a word before he died.”

Frustration tightened Chandalen’s jaw as he looked out over the plains before returning his attention to Richard. “But if we cannot have fire, how are we to eat? We must bake tava bread and cook our food. We cannot eat raw dough and raw meat. The women use fire to make pottery. The men use it to make weapons. How are we to live?”

Richard let out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know, Chandalen. I only know that fire may bring the evil spirit—the chimes—again. I’m simply telling you the only thing I know to do to help keep our people safe.

“
I guess you will be forced to use fire, but keep in mind the danger it may bring. If everyone knows of the danger, maybe it will be safe to use fire when you must.”

“
And are we not to drink for fear of going near water?”

“
Chandalen, I wish I knew the answers.” Richard wiped a weary hand across his face. “I only know that water, fire, and high places are dangerous. The chimes are able to use those things to harm people. The more we can stay away from them, the safer we will be.”

“
But even if we do this, from what you said before the chimes will still kill.”

“
I don’t have nearly enough answers, Chandalen. I’m trying to tell you everything I can think of in order that you might help keep our people safe. There very well may be yet more dangers I don’t even know about.”

Chandalen put his hands on his hips as he looked out over his people’s grasslands. His jaw muscles flexed as he thought on matters Richard could only guess. Richard waited silently until Chandalen spoke.

“
Is it true, as you said, that a child yet to be born in our village died because of these chimes of death that are loose in the world?”

“
I’m sorry, Chandalen, but I believe it is so.”

His intent dark eyes met Richard’s gaze. “How did these evil spirits come to be in this world?”

Richard licked the corners of his mouth. “I believe Kahlan, without realizing it or intending it, may have called them with magic in order to save my life. Because they were used to save my life, it is my fault they are here.”

Chandalen considered Richard’s admission. “The Mother Confessor would not intend harm. You would not intend harm. Yet it is because of you the chimes of death are here?”

Chandalen’s tone had changed from confusion and alarm to authority. He was, after all, now an elder. He had a responsibility to the safety of his people that went beyond that of hunter.

In much the way the Mud People and the Baka Tau Mana shared many of the same values yet had nearly come to blows, Chandalen and Richard had at one time a fractious relationship. Fortunately, they both now understood that they shared much more in common than they disagreed about.

Richard looked out at the distant clouds and the sheets of rain lashing the dark and distant horizon. “I’m afraid that’s the truth of it. Added to that, I neglected to remember valuable information to tell Zedd, when I had the chance. Now he will be gone in search of the chimes.”

Chandalen again considered Richard’s words before speaking.

“
You are Mud People and have both struggled to protect us. We know you both did not mean to bring the chimes and cause harm.”

Chandalen drew himself up tall—he didn’t come up to Richard’s shoulder—and delivered his pronouncement.

“
We know you and the Mother Confessor both will do what you must to set this right.”

Richard understood only too well the code of responsibility, obligation, and duty by which this man lived. Though he and Chandalen came from very different peoples, with very different cultures, Richard had grown up by many of the same standards. Perhaps, he thought, they weren’t really that different. Maybe they wore different clothes, but they had much the same heart, the same longings, and the same desires. They shared, too, many of the same fears.

Not only Richard’s stepfather but also Zedd had taught him many of the very things Chandalen’s people had taught him. If you brought harm, no matter the reason, you had to set it right as best you could.

While it was understandable to be afraid, and no one would expect you not to be, the worst thing you could do was to run from the trouble you had caused. No matter how accidental it was, you didn’t try to deny it. You didn’t run. You did what you must to right it.

If not for Richard, the chimes would not be free. Kahlan’s actions to save his life had already cost others theirs. She, too, would not waver for an instant from their duty to do whatever they could to stop the chimes. It wasn’t even a question open to debate.

“
You have my solemn word, Elder Chandalen. I will not rest until the Mud People and everyone else are safe from the chimes. I will not rest until the chimes are back in the underworld where they belong. Or I will die trying.”

A small smile, warm with pride, crept onto Chandalen’s face.

“
I knew I did not need to remind you of your promise to always protect our people, but it is good to hear from your own lips that you have not forgotten your vow.”

Chandalen surprised Richard with a hard slap.

“
Strength to Richard with the Temper. May his anger burn hot and swift against our enemies.”

Richard comforted his stinging jaw and had turned from Chandalen when he noticed Kahlan returning with Du Chaillu.

“
For a woods guide,” Cara said, “you manage to get yourself in a lot of trouble. Do you think you will have any wives left, now that they are finished?”

He knew Cara was only nettling him, in her odd way trying to buoy his spirits. “One, I hope.”

“
Well, if not,” Cara said with a smirk, “we will always have each other.”

Richard made for the other two women. “The position of wife is filled, thank you.”

Kahlan and Du Chaillu walked side by side through the grass, their faces showing no emotion. At least he didn’t see any blood.

“
Your other wife has convinced me to talk to you,” Du Chaillu said when Richard met them.

“
You are fortunate to have us both,” she added.

Richard thought better of opening his mouth, lest he allow to leap off his tongue the flip remark dancing impatiently there.

Du Chaillu walked off to her blade masters, apparently telling the men to sit and rest themselves while she spoke with the
Caharin
. While she was seeing to that, Kahlan, with the end of her finger in his ribs, prodded Richard in the direction of their gear.

“
Get Du Chaillu a blanket to sit on,” Kahlan murmured.

“
Why does she need ours? They have their own blankets with them. Besides, she doesn’t need a blanket to sit on to tell me why she’s here.”

Kahlan poked his ribs again. “Just get it.” she said under her breath so the others wouldn’t hear. “In case you hadn’t noticed, the woman is pregnant and could use a rest off her feet.”

“
Well that doesn’t—”

“
Richard,” Kahlan snapped, hushing him. “When you insist someone submit to your will, it is accomplished most easily if you give them a small victory so they can retain their dignity while they do as you insist. If you wish, I will carry it over to her.”

“
Well,” Richard said, “all right, then. I guess—”

“
See? You just proved it. And you will carry the blanket.”

“
So Du Chaillu gets a small victory, but I don’t?”

“
You’re a big boy. Du Chaillu’s price is a blanket to sit on while she tells you why she’s here. The price is minuscule. Don’t continue a war we have already won just to make the opponent’s humiliation crushing and complete.”

“
But she—”

“
I know. Du Chaillu was out of line in what she said to you. You know it, I know it, she knows it. But her feelings were hurt and not entirely without cause. We all make mistakes.

“
She didn’t understand the dimensions of the danger we have only just discovered we face. She has agreed to peace for the price of our blanket to sit upon. She only wants you to pay her a courtesy. It won’t hurt you to indulge her sensibilities.”

Richard glanced over his shoulder when they reached their things. Du Chaillu was speaking to the blade masters.

“
You threaten her?” Richard whispered as he pulled his blanket from his pack.

“
Oh yes,” Kahlan whispered back. She put a hand on his arm. “Be gentle. Her ears are liable to be a bit tender after our little talk.”

Richard marched over and made a show of flattening the grass and spreading his blanket on the ground before Du Chaillu. With the flat of his hand, he smoothed out the bigger wrinkles. He set a waterskin in the middle. When finished, he held out a hand in invitation.

“
Please, Du Chaillu”—he couldn’t make himself address her as his wife, but he didn’t think that mattered—“sit and speak with me? Your words are important, and time is precious.”

She inspected the way he had matted down the grass, all in one direction, and scrutinized the blanket. Satisfied with the arrangement, she sat at one end and crossed her legs under herself. With her back straight, her chin held high, and her hands clasped in her lap, she looked somehow noble. He guessed she was.

Richard flipped his golden cape back over his shoulders and sat cross-legged at the other end of the blanket. It wasn’t very big, so their knees almost touched. He smiled politely and offered her the waterskin.

As she graciously accepted the waterskin, he recalled the first time he had seen her. She had been in a collar and chained to a wall. She had been naked and filthy, and smelled as if she had been there for months, which she had, yet her bearing was such that she had somehow seemed to him just as noble as she did now, clean and dressed in her spirit-woman prayer dress.

He remembered, too, how when he had been trying to free her, she feared he was going to kill her and she had bitten him. Just recalling it, he could almost feel her teeth marks.

The troubling thought occurred to him that this woman had the gift. He wasn’t sure the extent of her powers, but he could see it in her eyes. Somehow, his ability allowed him to see that timeless look in the eyes of others who were at least brushed with a dusting of the gift of magic.

Sister Verna had told Richard that she had tried little things on Du Chaillu, to test her. Verna said the spells she sent at Du Chaillu disappeared like pebbles dropped down a well, and they did not go unnoticed. Du Chaillu, Verna had said, knew what was being tried, and was somehow able to annul it.

From other things, Richard had long ago come to the realization that Du Chaillu’s gift involved some primitive form of prophecy. Since she had been held in chains for months, he doubted she was able to affect the world around her with her magical ability. People whose magic could affect others in an overt manner didn’t need to bite, he imagined, nor would they allow themselves to be held captive to await being sacrificed. But she was able to prevent others from using magic against her, not an uncommon form of mystical protection against the weapon of magic, Richard had learned.