Hateful Things

11

They left the site of the slaughter, grateful to be away from the gagging stench of death, and made the long, tiring climb mostly in silence. When they finally reached the uppermost landing of the service stairs, Richard gently grabbed the sergeant’s arm and brought him to a halt.

“There is no way we will ever be able to identify all those people. You said you have a list of the names of missing people. I think it’s safe to assume that the missing are those we saw down there.”

The man nodded. “So, what do you want to do, Lord Rahl?”

Richard felt overwhelmed, frustrated, and angry. “We can’t really bring the whole rotting mess back out of there for a proper burial. It would be to no real purpose, since we wouldn’t have any way to put the remains of individuals together or identify any of them so that people could grieve and bury their loved one. There is no way we would know who we’re burying or if the missing are for sure among them, even though it seems likely that they are. And we certainly can’t bring their families down there to the site and tell them that their loved ones are likely among the remains in the pile.

“Seeing those remains would be more horrific to them than the torment of not knowing what happened to their loved ones. There is nothing we could do that would provide closure for people.”

“So, what are you thinking?”

Richard wiped a hand across his mouth as he briefly considered. As much as he didn’t like the idea of simply leaving the remains down in the lower reaches of the palace, he couldn’t see that there was really any choice. There were catacombs under the palace where a great many people were interred. In a way, the victims were already buried underground.

“Their suffering is over. They are with the good spirits, now,” Richard finally said to the sergeant. “I’d like you to get a group of men together. Have them collect stone and mortar from down in the lower levels. I saw supplies of that kind down there in some of the nearby rooms off the side passageways. Once you have the supplies you’ll need, seal up the entrance to that chamber with the remains.

“Not just a simple wall. Those creatures could probably break through that and go back to using it again. You need to plug up the end of the passageway for a good enough distance that they aren’t ever going to be able to break through it to get back in and use it as a nest. That will be the tomb for all those poor victims.”

Sergeant Barclay nodded. “Then those creatures will know we are on to them, know we have discovered their lair.”

“Good. I want them to know that they aren’t as clever as they thought they were. And at least they won’t be able to continue to hunt in the same way.”

The sergeant tilted his head closer with a serious look. “Lord Rahl, there are many places like that in the lower areas of the palace. They may simply find similar places from which to hunt.”

“Of course they will. We will have to be on the lookout for that now that we know what they were doing. We need to quickly deny them places they use wherever we find them. Maybe we can make them feel like the hunted for a change. We might even be able to kill or capture some of them. In the meantime, seal that chamber as a gravesite.”

The man clapped his fist to his heart. “I will see to it right away, Lord Rahl.”

As the sergeant hurried off through the service area to get a crew to take care of sealing up the tomb, Richard headed in the direction of the double doors that would lead out.

“We need to get up there to meet with the gifted,” he told the others. “They likely will be waiting for us by now.”

“What are you thinking?” Shale asked, sounding suspicious. “What do you want with the gifted?”

Richard paused before opening the doors out of the service area and turned back to the eight grim female faces watching him. Instead of answering her question, he asked her one. “Do you know how to join gifts from different gifted people to create more power?”

He knew that the Sisters of the Light could do it. He had seen it done.

Shale’s smooth brow bunched together a bit. “I’ve never heard of such a thing. But to be fair, the only gifted people I knew were my parents.”

Richard paused in thought for a moment. “That means you may not know how to do what a lot of sorceresses who have been trained are able to do.”

Shale’s lips pursed with displeasure. “Magic is magic.”

“So it is,” he said, offering her a small smile.

Kahlan took his arm and pressed her head against his shoulder as he started off toward the grand staircase. He put an arm around her waist and pulled her close as they went up the first flight to the broad landing where the stairs reversed direction to continue on up.