Temple of the Winds (21 page)

For what seemed hours, but she knew couldn’t be more than fifteen or twenty minutes, they continued on into the dark, stinking halls. The stone blocks were larger, some so huge that single blocks ran from floor to ceiling. They were roughly cut, but fit with no less precision that the other mortarless jointwork elsewhere in the palace.

The halls were wetter, too, with water running down the walls in places, draining into small tiled weep holes at the edges of the floor that had a crown to direct the water to the drains. Some of the drains were plugged with debris, allowing shallow pools to form.

Rats used the tiled drains as tunnels. They squeaked and scurried away at the approach of light and sound, some taking to the drains, some running on ahead. Kahlan thought again of Cara, and wondered if she was still alive. It seemed too cruel that she should die before having a chance to taste life without the madness that shadowed her.

A series of connecting tunnels finally reduced Kahlan’s company to Nadine and two men. The way was so narrow that they had to proceed single-file. The low, arched ceiling forced them to trot in a crouch.

Kahlan saw no blood—Jagang probably used his control of Marlin’s mind to cut the flow—but in several places she did see that the slime on the wall was smeared in horizontal streaks. As low and narrow as the passageway was, it would be difficult to avoid grazing the close walls. Kahlan brushed against the wall more than she wished to; it hurt her shoulder when the knuckles of her hand over the wound struck the slimy stone. Marlin—Jagang—had to have been through the passageway and brushed against the same wall.

She felt both a rush of heady relief that she was on his tail, and terror at the prospect of catching him.

The arched passageway narrowed again, and the ceiling became even lower. They had to hunch into a deep crouch to proceed. The flames from the torches folded to lap at the stone close overhead, and the smoke billowed along the ceiling, burning their eyes.

As the passageway started into a steep descent, they all slipped and fell more than once. Nadine skinned her elbow as she fell on it while maintaining a grip on the torch. Kahlan slowed, but didn’t stop, as one of the soldiers helped Nadine regain her feet. The other three quickly caught up.

Ahead, Kahlan heard the rush of water.

The narrow passageway opened into a large, tubular tunnel. Water rushed in a torrent down the round tunnel that was part of the drainage system below the palace. Kahlan paused at the edge.

“
What now, Mother Confessor?” one of the soldiers asked.

“
Stick to the plan. I’ll go with Nadine downstream, to the right. You two go upstream to the left.”

“
But if he’s trying to get out, he would have gone to the right,” the soldier said. “He would hope to get out where the water does. We should go with you.”

“
Unless he knows we’re after him, and he’s trying to send us the wrong way. You two go left. Come on, Nadine.”

“
In there? The water must be waist-deep.”

“
A little more, I’d say. It’s run-off from the spring melt. It’s usually no more than a foot or two deep. There are stepping stones along the other side, but they’re just underwater now. In the center of where this passageway opens into the drain tunnel there will be an oblong stone to step across on.”

Kahlan stretched and stepped out, putting a foot into the center of the torrent and onto the flat stone just under the surface of the water. She lifted her other leg across the rushing water, testing until her foot found one of the stones against the far wall. She clasped a hand with Nadine and boosted herself across. Standing on the stone, the water was only ankle-deep, but it quickly soaked through the lacing and filled her boots. It was ice cold.

“
See?” Kahlan’s voice echoed, and she hoped it didn’t carry far. “But be careful; it isn’t an unbroken walkway. The stones are spaced apart.”

Kahlan moved to the next stepping stone and gave Nadine a hand across. She gestured to the men to go up the tunnel. They crossed and moved quickly off into the darkness. Soon, the light from the men’s torches vanished around a bend, and Kahlan was left with Nadine in the dim light of a single torch. Kahlan hoped it would last long enough.

“
Careful, now,” she said to Nadine.

Nadine cupped her ear. It was hard to hear over the roar of the water. Kahlan put her mouth close and repeated the admonition. She didn’t want to yell, and alert Jagang, if he was close.

Even if the torch had been brighter, they wouldn’t have been able to see far. The drainage tunnel twisted and turned on its way down and out of the palace underground. Kahlan had to put a hand to the cold, slimy stone wall in order to keep her balance.

In several places the tunnel took a steep descent, the stones along the side following it down like a stairway down through a roaring rapid. Icy water misted the air and soaked them to the skin.

Even in the flatter sections, running was impossible, as they had to step carefully from stone to stone. If they went too fast and missed a step, they could break an ankle. Down in the tunnel, in the water, with Jagang somewhere about, would be a very bad place to be hurt. The blood running afresh down Kahlan’s arm reminded her that she was already hurt. But at least she could walk.

That was when Nadine squealed from behind and went into the water.

“
Don’t lose the torch!” Kahlan screamed.

Nadine, chest-deep in the rushing water, thrust the torch up in the air to keep it from being doused. Kahlan snatched her wrist and strained against the drag of the water as the current swept Nadine past. There was nothing for Kahlan to grab hold of with her other hand. She hooked the heels of her boots over the edge of the stepping stone to keep from being pulled off.

Nadine thrashed with her other hand, searching for one of the stepping stones. She found one and grasped it. With Kahlan’s help, she pulled herself back up.

“
Dear spirits, that water is cold.”

“
I told you to be careful!”

“
Something, a rat, I think, grabbed my leg,” she said, trying to catch her breath.

“
I’m sure it was dead. I’ve seen others float past. Now be careful.”

Nadine nodded in embarrassment. Because she had been swept past Kahlan, Nadine was now in the lead. Kahlan didn’t see how they could change places without a struggle, so she motioned Nadine on.

Nadine turned to start out. Suddenly a huge shape erupted from the black depths. Water sluiced from Marlin as he bobbed up and snatched Nadine’s ankle with his one hand. She shrieked as she was yanked feet-first into the inky water.

On her way down, Nadine swung the torch and caught Marlin square across the bridge of his nose. He let go of her as he madly groped to wipe the burning pitch from his eyes. The current swept him away.

Kahlan gripped Nadine’s arm, still holding the torch above the water, and helped her back up on the stepping stone for a second time. They flattened themselves against the wall, gulping air and shaking in shock.

“
Well,” Kahlan said at last, “at least we know which way he went.”

Nadine was shivering violently from her second dunking. Her hair was plastered to her head and neck. “I can’t swim. Now I know why I never wanted to learn. I don’t like it.”

Kahlan smiled to herself. The woman had more pluck than she would have thought. Her smile wilted when she remembered why Nadine was there, and who had sent her.

Kahlan realized that in the surprise of the ambush she had missed her chance to get Jagang.

“
Let me go first.”

Nadine held the torch up with both hands. Kahlan put her arms around Nadine’s waist as they twisted around on tiptoes to change places on the stone. The woman was as cold as a fish in winter. Kahlan wasn’t much warmer from being in the frigid tunnels with the icy water lapping around her ankles. Her toes were numb.

“
What if he swims upstream and escapes?” Nadine asked, her teeth chattering.

“
I don’t think that likely, with only one arm. He was probably holding a stone, keeping just his face above the surface as he lurked in the water, waiting for us.”

“
And what if he does it again?”

“
I’m in front now. It will be me he grabs hold of, and that will be the last mistake he makes.”

“
And what if he waits until you pass, and pops up and grabs me again?”

“
Then hit him harder the next time.”

“
I hit him as hard as I could!”

Kahlan smiled and gave Nadine a reassuring squeeze on her arm. “I know you did. You did the right thing. You did well.”

They inched along the wall, passing several more gentle turns, watching the water the whole time for Marlin’s face peering up at them. Both started at things they saw in the water, but it always turned out to be nothing more than pieces of flotsam.

The torch was sputtering more, and looked to be near its end. The drains all led outside, and they had traveled a goodly distance in this one. Kahlan knew that the tunnel must end soon.

She realized the thought was more hope than knowledge; as a girl she had explored the tunnels and drains down here, though not when they had been so swollen with run-off, and although she had a good idea of where she was, she didn’t know their exact location. She remembered that some drainage tunnels seemed to go on forever.

As they moved along, the sound of the roaring water seemed to change pitch. Kahlan wasn’t sure what that meant. Ahead, the tunnel bent to the right.

A thump that she could feel in her chest more than hear made her stop. She held out a hand, not only to halt Nadine, but to signal silence.

The wet stone of the walls ahead brightened, glistening with a reflected bluish glow from something beyond the bend. A low howl rose in pitch until they could hear it clearly over the rush of the water.

A boiling ball of flame exploded from around the bend. Raging yellow and blue flame, filling the entire tunnel, tumbled as it raced toward them with a wail.

Liquid fire seething with all-consuming menace.

Wizard’s fire.

Kahlan snatched Nadine by the hair. “Hold your breath!”

Pulling Nadine with her, Kahlan dived into the water just ahead of the angry fury of roiling flame. The icy water was such a shock that she almost gasped it in.

Under the churning water, it was difficult to tell up from down. Kahlan opened her eyes. She saw the wavering glow of the inferno overhead. Nadine was struggling to get to the surface. Kahlan jammed her left hand against the underside of a stepping stone to hold herself under, and with her good arm held Nadine under with her. Nadine, in the panic of drowning, fought to escape. Panic clawed at Kahlan, too.

When everything went black, Kahlan, her lungs burning for air, thrust her head above the water, pulling Nadine up with her. Nadine choked and coughed as she gasped. Long sodden strands of hair covered both their faces.

Another tumbling ball of wizard’s fire raced up the tunnel.

“
Get a big breath!” Kahlan screamed.

She sucked a deep breath herself and went under, dragging Nadine down with her. They went under without an instant to spare. Kahlan knew that, given a choice, Nadine would have chosen to die in the fire rather than drown, but the water was their only chance. Wizard’s fire burned with deadly determination, with the resolve of the wizard who conjured it.

They couldn’t keep doing this. The water was so cold she was shivering uncontrollably already. She knew that cold water, by itself, could kill a person. They couldn’t stay in the water; it would end up killing them as sure as the wizard’s fire.

They couldn’t get to Jagang through Marlin’s wizard’s fire. If they were to reach him in time, there was only one way: they would have to go under the fire. Under the water.

Kahlan repressed her panic at the thought of drowning, made sure she had a good grip around Nadine’s waist, and then pushed away from the stepping stone she had been gripping for dear life.

The wet wrath of water swept them away in its frigid flux.

She could feel herself tumbling under the water as she scraped and bumped along the stone. When her shoulder hit on something, she almost screamed, but the thought of losing her breath instantly locked her throat shut even tighter.