Into Darkness

56

Richard watched the Glee stagger away and then gradually break into an awkward, stumbling run. As he watched the Glee leaving, he felt the magic of the sword pounding through him, matched by his own anger at how many people the followers of the Golden Goddess had killed in his world. He raged at what they had done to Kahlan’s life, to his, and the lives of countless others left without a loved one. He finally slid the sword back into its scabbard to extinguish its fury.

He was glad, though, to learn that the sword’s magic had joined with his and had worked in this world. His bond had also worked to power Vika’s Agiel. It had confirmed that his own gift would function in this alien place. If he knew how to call upon it at will, that would be even better, but he had rarely been able to do that. He was relieved, however, that even though there were only the two of them, at least his magic would be there for him if he was in desperate need. He hoped that would be enough to see them through what lay ahead.

He turned back and looked out over the stunned crowd of Glee watching him.

“That Glee, had he not been discovered, would have betrayed you all. You could all have lost your lives before you even realized that the goddess was planning to send her followers to kill you. Now that you know they don’t have the same greenish iridescence as all of you have, you need to be on the lookout for others. There is no telling if the goddess might have sent more than that one among you.”

The Glee all looked around at those nearby.

“We will do as you say and watch for them,” Sang said.

“I need to know the lay of the land and where the goddess and her followers are,” Richard told them.

“It is some distance that way,” Sang said as he pointed in the direction the lone Glee had run off into the thick brownish-red haze that continually drifted past. “She and her followers are off that way. It is an isolated area. There is only one way into the place where they are. There is not a lot to eat in that location, like there is here, but it is well protected. She does not care about what there is to eat there because her followers prefer to eat creatures from other worlds rather than the food our world has always provided for us.

“But now that you have sent her spy back without a claw, she will be angry, and she will be expecting you to come for her. Her followers will be on alert and massed to protect her. I don’t see how it would be possible to attack her now that you have told her that you will be coming for her.”

Richard briefly glanced into the distance where Sang had pointed. “There is only one way in?”

Sang nodded. “Yes. She chose that place because there is but the one way in, so it is easy to defend, should any others think to take her power.”

“Or think to end her ideas of taking other worlds,” Richard said.

Sang nodded along with a few others. “She will be preparing for you and prepared to protect the place.”

Richard rested a fist on his hip again, thinking, as he looked off in the direction Sang had indicated. It was a gloomy, reddish landscape of swamps and low vegetation. In the distance there were more of the strange tall trees with the leaves in tight clumps at the tops of their long, crooked trunks. Colonies of the large bats flew among the trees.

In the far distance he could also see some higher ground, along with some imposing cliffs. He presumed that higher ground must be what protected access to where she and her followers were gathered. He looked back at Sang.

“What do you mean, there is only one way in? Why? Why can’t we go around to come in another way, on another side?”

Sang and all the other Glee seemed to shrink back a little. “It is impossible to go around and come in from another way.”

“You already said that. Why is it impossible?”

“Because,” Sang said with a kind of whine that Richard could hear in his head along with the words, “that way is far too barren and dry. Nothing grows there, and there is no water. None of us could survive there. We would die.”

“What do you mean, you would die? You came to my world, and you said that was dry. You didn’t die there.”

Sang shook his head with conviction. “This is a different kind of dry place. Do you remember the sand we were standing on when we came back from darkness?”

“Yes. What of it?”

“All around the place where the Golden Goddess and her followers live is that kind of ground. Sand, as you call it. Nothing but sand and many towers of rock. In between those high rock walls there are hills of sand. Expanses of wind-driven sand make up all the ground there. When the wind comes up stronger, it creates a storm of sand and wind on the ground. Nothing can survive there.”

Richard nodded. “Good. Then that’s the way we will go.”

There were gasps from the Glee and they turned to one another, seeming to murmur their fears. Richard ignored their obvious concern and instead squatted down and pushed some of the smaller rocks aside to clear an area of muddy ground.

“Here, draw a map for me. Show me where everything is located in relation to us.”

Sang leaned in and looked at the bare ground. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Richard pointed out at the areas of swampy water, then drew a quick map of the ponds in the sandy dirt. “Like this. A picture on the ground of where places are. See this?” He pointed again out at the nearby landscape. “I have drawn a map, a picture on the ground, of where the water is”—he gestured—“out that way. See each of the areas of water I drew?”

Sang and the others looked back at the water, then leaned in to peer down at the map Richard had drawn on the ground.

“I see what you mean, now,” Sang said.

Richard smoothed out the ground, covering the map he had just sketched. “Now, you draw a map of where we are, where the goddess is, and the kind of land around her place—what is the area of dry sand. Try your best to show their relative sizes.”

Sang squatted down and lifted one single claw out and away from the other two, like pointing with a finger. Richard hadn’t known they had that much dexterity with their claws. Sang then used the single claw to sketch out a lay of the land. All the while he was drawing, he pulled his lips back over his sharp teeth, the way some people stick out a tongue when drawing.

“This,” Sang finally said, tapping the ground with the single claw, “is the area of sand and tall rock. Here are mountains that are too high to climb. Here, on this side, is the way that the goddess and her followers go in and out of her place to then go to the mountain with the device they use to travel to other worlds. All of this, around here, is the impassable area of sand. We would die if we tried to go that way to get to the place where they are gathered.”

Richard studied the map and then tapped a finger on the area that Sang said was impassable. “Good. We will go in this way. They won’t be expecting us.”

All the Glee gathered around looked at each other, again hissing their fright. Sang held up his claws to ward off the very notion of Richard’s idea.

“You can go that way to kill the goddess if it is your choice, but we cannot guide you into her place if you wish to go that way around. Besides, even if we could go that way with you, we are not fighters. This is why I asked you to come to our world to kill the goddess. I have seen you fight. We, here, cannot fight the way you do, or the way those with the goddess have learned to fight and kill. We are peaceful.”

Richard raked his fingers back through his hair as he let out a sigh of angry frustration. “Look, I intend to do my best, as I said I would. I have proven my willingness to help end this threat to both of our worlds by coming here, to your world, with you. But this is not my fight alone. It is your fight as well.”

“But we cannot—”

“This is about your future more than mine.” Richard gestured off in the direction of the goddess and her followers. “You heard what that spy said. The goddess intends to slaughter and eat all of you for disrespecting her. What if I die in the attempt to kill her? Then what? What will you do then? Just let them kill you all?

“Brutal leaders like the Golden Goddess cannot long tolerate those who don’t believe, follow, and do as they are told. She views all of you as a disease that could spread to her followers if she does not cut you out before she loses any of her followers and then her power. She cannot allow you to live. She will send her followers for you and they will kill every one of you, along with your females and your offspring. You don’t need to believe me. You all heard what that spy said.

“I have fought wars before, and this one is really not all that different. Such brutal leaders always seek to eliminate any who don’t believe in their cause.

“You all are a bigger threat to her than I am. If I am killed, she continues to rule. But if you are not eliminated, you all pose a continual threat that could make her followers turn on her. Leaders need the support of those they lead. All of you threaten to cause her to lose her support. For that reason, she must kill all of you.

“It is not up to me to do it for you. You all must be a part of your own futures if you want to protect not only your own lives, but the lives of your offspring. If you do not help me, your offspring will have no future.”

One of the Glee in front gestured to be heard. “You told that spy that you are a war wizard, the bringer of death. You said that war fighting is what you were born to do. We are not war fighters. We were not born to do this. This is something you alone must do. We cannot fight.”

Richard fought back his urge to yell some sense into them.

“I realize that,” he told them, trying to maintain his patient, reasoning tone, “but you all need to listen to me. You are a gentle race. You are peaceful. You love your young. You do not wish to harm others.

“I understand all of that because I was once very much like you. I did not want to fight. I learned hard lessons that if I stand aside, then those I love lose everything. They lose their lives. I have seen many good friends die.

“I learned that to save those I love, and even others who believe in peace as I do, as you do, I had to fight even though I did not wish to fight. I am telling you this from my harsh experience. If you wish to survive, you must fight for your own lives. I can help a great deal, but I can’t do everything for you. This is about your lives, and the lives of your kind. If you don’t take your world back from the goddess, she will take everything from you.

“She already has plans to come and kill you all, so, in a way, you all are already dead. Your only choice now is to decide to live.”