Severed Souls (46 page)

“It had crossed my mind,” Kahlan said.

“Of course it did. But you would be wrong.” The tolerant smile stayed on her face, not touching any other of her smooth features. “I am called Red because there have been times when this pass through the mountains”—she swept an arm out first in the direction Kahlan needed to go and then in the direction from which they had come—“has run red with blood. There have been times when I have turned this pass to a river of blood.” She shrugged. “So, that was how I came to be called Red. The hair came after.” The smile widened. “Because I liked the name.”

“I see,” Kahlan said.

“You needn't sound so reproachful, Mother Confessor. After all, there have been times when you, too, have turned the countryside red with blood.”

“That's true,” Kahlan admitted. She sought to clarify the idea with a bit of context. “Sometimes people need killing.”

Red laughed. “Yes, indeed they do.” The laughter died out as she leaned a bit closer, looking hard into Kahlan's eyes. “I'm glad that you feel that way.”

Kahlan glanced over at Hunter sitting quietly, watching.

She gestured at him. “Do you know that small creature?”

Red didn't bother looking. “So cute, isn't he? His mother is a … protector of mine. I would not describe her as cute, though. You would never guess from looking at the little fellow just how big she is, or how ferocious. He is quite the good little boy. I sent him to you.”

Kahlan frowned. “Why?”

“To make sure that you made it here. I put the thorn in his paw so that you two would become friends. Though he is still small, like his mother, he is quite the fierce protector.”

Kahlan was still frowning. “How did you know that he would find me, or that I would find the thorn and take it out? For that matter, how did you know that we would come this way?”

“Oh come now, Mother Confessor, what kind of oracle would I be if I did not see such important events in the flow of time.”

The flow of time … It suddenly came to Kahlan why the clear spring coming up from the boulder and the cathedral of trees looked familiar.

“You're a witch woman.”

Red smiled indulgently. “Yes. The simple people here have never imagined such a thing. I don't think they would understand. I give them little bits from the flow of time, such as I did when I told them that all of you would come through their home place. So, they think I am an oracle.”

Kahlan cocked her head. “I've had dealings with a witch woman in the past. Do you know Shota?”

Red flicked her hand dismissively. “Never heard of the witch.”

Kahlan glanced around. “So, where are all your snakes?”

Red made a show of visibly shuddering. “Snakes. Horrid creatures. I hate them.”

“Me too,” Kahlan said, feeling just the slightest bit better. Maybe Red was not the trouble Shota had proven herself to be. “Shota is rather fond of snakes.”

“Disgusting,” Red said, shuddering again. “I much prefer worms.”

Kahlan blinked. “Worms?”

Red nodded earnestly. “Much more agreeable creatures than snakes. More obedient and much more useful as well.”

“What good are worms?”

Amused, Red leaned closer. “You're joking.”

“No, really.”

Red gestured vaguely behind Kahlan, back toward the mounds of skulls. “Well, for one thing, the little ones are good at cleaning up messes.”

Kahlan cocked her head. “The little ones?”

Red straightened. She looked back over her shoulder.

“Worm! Come to me!”

Kahlan had never heard of worms that would come when called. She wondered briefly if Red had all her senses. In a moment, though, she began to feel the ground beneath her feet trembling. And then it shook as if from an earthquake.

Abruptly, not far behind Red, the ground broke open. Dirt flew up and away as something big erupted from under the sod.

Kahlan stared in disbelief. A worm as big around as the trunk of a midsize oak lifted part of itself up and out of the dirt. It stretched its wet head up over Red's shoulder. There was no face, no eyes, only an enormous round mouth ringed with teeth. The opening of the mouth undulated along with the rest of the distended, banded sections of the never-still, rippling body. The teeth clacked together when the mouth snapped closed and open again.

“Worm eats snakes for the fun of it,” Red said, amused by the startled look on Kahlan's face.

With that, she bent and snatched a snake up from under the bench. Smiling at Kahlan, she flipped the writhing snake back over her shoulder. The enormous worm snapped it out of midair like a dog snapping up a table scrap tossed its way.

Red waved a hand without looking back, dismissing the thing. The worm's massive body ripped in muscular waves as it pulled itself back down into the ground. The dirt and sod collapsed in around the hole as it vanished beneath the ground.

“Your little furry friend's mother is even more formidable,” the witch woman said.

“I can only imagine,” Kahlan said as she glanced over at Hunter. “Red, you obviously went to a lot of trouble getting me to come here.”

“Not a lot of trouble,” Red said with a shrug. “I saw in the flow of time that you would come this way. I didn't want you to be ripped apart and eaten back there in the chasms, so I sent your little friend to show you the way and keep you alive.”

“Thank you” was all Kahlan could think to say. “But what am I doing here? We need permission to go through here. We need to be on our way. What is it you want from me?”

“Ah,” Red said, “direct and to the point. Well, with the condition you and Lord Rahl are in, I suppose that you have no time to waste, so we had best get right to our business.”

“My business is getting to Saavedra,” Kahlan told the woman. “We're in a hurry. We don't want any trouble. We simply need you to give us your permission to go through this pass.”

“Yes,” Red drawled, “but first we have important business.”

Kahlan frowned again. “What business?”

Red's piercing blue eyes fixed on her. “I need you to kill someone for me.”

 

CHAPTER

66

“You need me to kill someone?” Kahlan asked. She didn't see why a witch woman with this much ability and reach couldn't do her own killing if it was so important. “I'm not an assassin. Not for anyone, including you.”

“Yes, that's all well and good, but you need to do this killing, so I need to make you understand how important it is so that you will not fail.”

Kahlan took a deep breath. She knew the woman wasn't going to let them pass until Kahlan at least heard her out. “Fine, let's hear it, then, but be quick about it. I don't have long to live unless I get this sickness out of me.”

“Yes,” Red drawled again. “The call of death from that vile creature, Jit.”

Kahlan cast a suspicious look at the woman. “You know of Jit, and the poison in us?”

Red rolled her eyes. “I am a witch woman. Of course I know of important matters that involve central figures such as you and Lord Rahl. It is all part of the larger issue. It's part of why you must perform the task I have for you.”

“You mean killing someone for you.”

“That's right.” She took a deep breath of her own as she considered how to begin. “Well, since you are rapidly running out of time, I will try to make this as short as I can.”

“I would appreciate that,” Kahlan said, not really wanting to hear it. She thought about the field of skulls and realized that at least listening to what Red had to say was probably wise. They needed to be on their way. Fighting their way through was not a risk they needed. Listening would take less time.

“You see, Mother Confessor, I have seen the demon. He is here, in the world of life.”

“The demon?”

“The one called Sulachan. He has long been dead. He belongs in the world of the dead and—”

“You expect me to kill Sulachan?” Kahlan was incredulous.

“No, not exactly. Not directly, anyway. What I expect is for you to make it possible for him to be sent back to the underworld, where he belongs.”

Kahlan certainly wanted Sulachan and his scheme stopped. Since Red seemed to have the same objective, Kahlan suddenly became more interested. “Make it possible.… How am I supposed to do that?”

“I am trying to explain the larger picture, if you would allow me. You said you were in a hurry.”

Kahlan nodded. “Sorry. Go on.”

“Sulachan is an ancient evil that blighted the world. He died long ago and belongs in the world of the dead. By all that is right, he should not be a problem for us today, but he is.

“In life, he was a sickly man. He was also a man of vision. Evil vision, deranged vision, but vision nonetheless. Knowing he was slowly dying, he began making preparations long before he ever passed over into the world of the dead. Despite being sickly, he was a powerful wizard, possessing both the gift and occult powers.”

“I don't understand this business with occult powers,” Kahlan said. “I've never encountered them before. Why do they suddenly seem to be springing up all over?”

Red swept an arm around. “Everything requires balance. That balance runs the gamut from the minuscule to the most central elements. Conflict seeks balance, balance is often achieved by conflict. Heat and cold; darkness and light; bad balanced by good; hate by love—that sort of thing. Smaller parts, such as the good spirits versus demons, are part of a larger balance of life versus death. All elements are built from smaller, balanced elements.

“The gift itself is balanced between Additive Magic and Subtractive Magic. Yet on a larger scale, the totality of that internal balance within the gift—the gift itself—is balanced by occult powers.

“Back in the great war, those like Sulachan were defeating the gifted. That threatened to throw the worlds of life and death out of balance. The gifted prevailed, though, sealing those with occult powers behind the barrier. The gift thus gained dominance. But because everything always seeks balance, they knew the seals on the barrier could not last forever, and indeed they haven't. Occult powers have been leaking out for some time, and now they are once again fully free and among us.”

“I see,” Kahlan said, considering the repercussions. “So, you were saying about Sulachan dying?”

“With his own abilities and the help of many others whom he commanded, he manipulated powers in the underworld before he died—occult powers—to prepare his place there.

“His spirit has been working for the three thousand years since his death to reconnect with the forces he had put into place here in this world when he had been alive.”

“Forces—you mean like the half people?”

“Yes. He knew that they could not be contained forever. He knew that one day they would be freed from their exile, and then be able to work to call his spirit back from the world of the dead into his body in the world of life.

“He also used the spirits of the dead he reanimated, drawing their spirits out of their eternal rest in the underworld to do his bidding. Once he pulled them away from their link to the gift that had taken them beyond the veil, they lost that connection and no longer knew where they belonged. He used them as his ethereal messengers between worlds.

“Lastly, Sulachan managed to enlist the essential help of the man who used to live a couple of days in that direction,” she said, flicking a hand in the direction of Saavedra off through the pass.

“Hannis Arc,” Kahlan said. “He ruled Fajin Province from the citadel in Saavedra.”

“He ruled much of Fajin Province, but not all,” she said, looking abruptly venomous. “I hold sway here.

“But that is the man,” she said, retracting her fangs a bit. “Hannis Arc benefited profoundly from the occult powers leaking out from behind the barrier. As a result, he has been able to tamper with the very nature of the Grace—the very way the world of life exists—bending those laws in order to bring Sulachan's spirit back into this world.”

“And your abilities are powered by what the Grace represents,” Kahlan said, “so your very existence is at stake.”

“That's right. As are your abilities, and Lord Rahl's, were you not sick with Jit's touch.

“Sulachan wants to bend those forces until they break. Hannis Arc wants to rule the world of life. He helped Sulachan fulfill his ambitions in return for Sulachan's help.

“Both men also know that there are always those who are all too eager to help them. Those minions serve to provide an audience of sycophants for evil such as Sulachan and Hannis Arc bring into the world. In return, they earn the table scraps of praise from the depraved.

“While powerfully gifted and possessing occult powers able to mine prophecy and bring Sulachan's spirit back through the veil, Hannis Arc didn't have the army necessary to accomplish his more ambitious goals of rule. For that, he needed help. So, he brought Sulachan back to provide that help.”

“One hand washes the other,” Kahlan said.

“Yes. They formed an alliance. Hannis Arc would do what was needed in this world to bring Sulachan back from the dead. Among other things, that meant using the invaluable blood of the bringer of death—your husband—to call Sulachan back from the dead. One of those matters of balance I spoke of.

“In return, Sulachan provided the army of half people and all the revived corpses Hannis Arc could ever need for conquest. Hannis Arc in turn continues to provide the worldly occult powers necessary to sustain Sulachan here in this world. And so on, round and round it goes, both locked together helping each other, but each with motives of his own, each using the other because he has to.

“Each man also thinks he controls the other. For now they both work together toward the same ends. For now, they share the same goals and need each other.